Moving from Chicago to his home state of California so he can assume a prestigious position at a cyber-security firm, Simon and Robyn (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall) purchase a chic, modern suburban home and plan to start a family. There is a sense of anger and melancholy left behind in Illinois—she lost a baby and could not cope for a while—but their new home is spacious and tranquil, and the couple tries to embrace the fresh start it represents. One afternoon, however, they run into Gordon (Joel Edgerton), a high-school acquaintance Simon knew as "Gordo the Weirdo." In a friendly, yet quietly menacing way, Gordon inserts himself into their life. There are gifts, including expensive wine and fish for an empty pond on their property. There are also frequent visits during the day when Robyn is home alone, as well as self-invitations to dinner. Robyn is sympathetic toward their nervous, overeager new friend, but Simon regards him with disdain and suspicion and plans to end the one-sided relationship.

The Gift is the directorial debut of Edgerton, a gifted Australian actor audiences know from, among other films, Animal Kingdom, Warrior, and The Great Gatsby, and it is a wonderful suspense story of capitalist drive, domestic secrecy, and danger only thinly obscured by the customs of polite society. The film expertly toys with and subverts viewers' expectations throughout, savoring almost every chance to veer left when we expect it to turn right. It starts with a recognizable, tried-and-true, even generic genre scenario in which a Perfect Couple must contend with a Troubled Outsider (see: Fatal Attraction, Pacific Heights), but soon collapses the protagonist/antagonist gap, forcing us to consider again and again which male character we trust, if either, and why.

The photography is crisp and elegant—the camera glides and surveys every reflective or shadow-enshrouded space, often allowing a sign of peril to enter the frame without a hand-holding musical jolt—and the trio of central performances are perfectly calibrated. Bateman plays Simon as an outwardly attentive husband who we only slowly notice transforms into a terse and even cruel creature when pushed beyond his comfort zone. Edgerton cuts an eerie, peculiar figure as "Gordo" without sacrificing a certain plaintive quality, refusing to let the character become a conventional or predictable heavy. And Hall, an often undervalued performer in general, is simply tremendous in the most complicated role. The story is revealed through her eyes, and she ushers us into the resourceful, yet fragile Robyn's mind—an evolving whirlwind of despair, displacement, empathy, fear, and intrigue—with an intelligence and poise reminiscent of, say, Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight or Deborah Kerr in The Innocents.

A

I also enjoyed seeing Allison Tolman (Fargo's Deputy Molly) in a supporting role. She is such a natural and instantly warm screen presence.

A very engaging watch with a pretty twisted finale.

A lean, mean chiller forcefully announcing Joel Edgerton as a major writing/directing talent, The Gift gets into your head and stays there. It has the goods to keep jaded audiences guessing and subverting expectations at every turn. Much of this success can be attributed to the uniformly excellent performances from Edgerton, Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. A really great late summer surprise. A-

This was awesome and deliciously twisted. Joel Edgerton's screenplay is incredibly sharp and unpredictable, and the direction feels incredibly accomplished already. The entire thing is so tense and I was on the edge of my seat for the last hour. The ending is fantastic. Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Edgerton all give brilliant performances too. Definitely a must-see. A-

Incredibly thrilling with strong performances. Though not quite as strong as Affleck's Gone Baby Gone, it is still a very strong actor-director debut.

I am trying to remember a stronger directorial debut by an actor/actress. I slightly prefer this to Gone Baby Gone, Ordinary People...

Oh, I would put this a hair below Sarah Polley's Away from Her.

Night of the Hunter.

Another thing I very much dug about this was the total lack of gory violence. If this was a 90s "_____ from hell" thriller like it appears to be at the outset, Allison Tolman's neighbor character probably would've ended up brutally murdered at some point or another.

There's no real violence in this, if you don't count Simon kicking Gordo a few times and a rock being hurtled through a window. It's all psychologically violent, which is impressive.

Very, very good, but overrated. It goes downhill when the Lillian Gish character enters the picture.

High Plains Drifter
The Man without a face
Resevoir Dogs (Tarantino starred in a truly awful film before)
Olivier's Henry V

Yes to Henry V.

I do not consider Reservoir Dogs an actor's directorial debut.

The Man with Two Faces is all right.

High Plains Drifter is not Eastwood's directorial debut, lol. Play Misty for Me is.

Hmmm, Gone Baby Gone would be hard to top for me, but I have not seen The Gift yet.

Just throwing out some suggestions - what about:

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Nil by Mouth
The Station Agent
Tyrannosaur
Garden State
Submarine

All very good, as is Tim Roth's The War Zone.

lol when the dog was missing I was thinking we'd get something like in Fear with Reese Witherspoon.

My bad, but what's wring with Play Misty for me? That's a pretty great thriller.

Let's also not forget:
Reality bites
Caddy shack
Dances with Wolves
Throw mama from the train
Heaven can wait
The Producers
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Dead Man Walking
Ordinary People
The kid
This is spinal tap.

There's a lot of Great ones so The gift fits in with them I can't wait t check it out. Hopefully Tuesday

I did not say anything was wrong with Play Misty for Me.

And all right. Let's not continue this digressive conversation here.

THE GIFT

I wasn't really interested in this but all the reviews convinced me to check it out. It actually had a decent sized audience when I saw it. I thought the film was decent and it was interesting throughout. I liked the actors involved and I thought Bateman gave probably one of his best performances. The film was slow but that was deliberate. It took it's time to slowly build things up and create this weird dynamic of this random guy continually popping into their lives. All that leading up to a interesting and creepy ending but there are some unresolved questions that I had. Why is Gordo so obsessed with Bateman vs that other guy (the chiropractor)? That guy said something to the effect of making peace or whatever but he settled whatever matter he had with Gordo. Then how could it be that his wife not realize something were wrong after she woke up after being drugged. For some reason, I think I've heard or read that people still have this sense of being violated even if they were not aware of it at the time. That kind of leads me to believe that child was Bateman's and not Gordo's but that can be resolved with a DNA test.

Grade - B

I do not believe Gordo raped her. He just wanted to plant the seed in Simon's mind, knowing it would rapidly blossom due to Simon's avaricious and suspicious nature.

One of the fascinating aspects of the film is the way both Gordo and Simon are bad men and creeps. And the film never alleviates this tense dynamic.

Loved this one. A superbly crafted suspense film that keeps you guessing. Great performance from Rebecca Hall and an awesome directing debut from Joel Edgerton. Smart, classy, and totally twisted.

9/10 (A-)

I might give this an A after another viewing.

Same here.

A fantastic thriller. A showcase for Edgerton’s talent both as a director and actor. The paranoia atmosphere he captures and the eeriness of their house, the pace of the film as its intensity dreads are all great skills. But his acting may be just as good. Gordo is at once dangerous but also likability sympathetic in a way Simon isn’t. Every time he’s on the screen is magnetic. A unique, compelling character. Bateman as Simon is perfectly captures his slimy selfishness and Hall portrays the audience’s discovering the clues.

In another film Gordo would turn out the good guy and Simon the bad guy but in this Gordo is still as bad and is a frequent liar himself. The real culprit is insecure masculinity causing Simon’s bullying in the first place, his inability to apologize instead of trying to threatening Gordo, and also Gordo snapping that the man he hates has a beautiful wife and better job. In the end both have lost but also win something. Gordo gives Simon one more gift by making him realize the cost of his lies enough to finally break down and cry, something that in the long run will likely help keep his life. Gordo gets to put a chapter of his past away.

This was an excellent thriller. Edgerton, Bateman, and Hall all gave powerhouse performances, especially Bateman who I never thought could be such a despicable character. I'm so use to seeing him play the funny or nice guy, so this turn definitely surprised me and I hope him takes more roles like this in the future. Anyways, like most have already said it isn't necessarily scary or even violent because everything is so psychological, but it's very effective and that's mostly due to the tense, sharp direction from Edgerton. Also, yeah that final twist was awesome and cold as fuck lol.