The Gift (2015)

I've noticed lately that the thriller, as genre, tends to get an "endangered species" status looking at the frequency of what's produced. Or at least it's less and less present on the weekly box-office list. I don't remember noticing anything since "Gone Girl" = last Fall. That's why I've seen "The Gift" as a very welcomed "color spot" in the series of action, superhero, comedies = the usual summer entertainment batch.

Long story short: a couple relocates in California where he got a new position in the company with a nice advancement perspective, and she's temporarily picking the role of housewife (+ implicitly gets into a mental recovery period after a pregnancy loss). Everything looks good, except Gordo. Gordo = a former school mate of the husband who apparently wishes to catch up and refresh an old friendship ... a wish which seems a bit one-sided. Where from, why, and where it goes ... see the movie ;)

The film is carried by three actors, doing their job perfectly. Leaving aside that I have a soft spot for Rebecca Hall (re-confirmed after having serious doubts following "Transcendence") I was really surprised to find out that Jason Bateman is not just a semi-average comedy actor. Besides the bad guy role, Joel Edgerton makes here a very promising debut as director + screenwriter. Strictly for this, it reminded me of "Gone Baby Gone", also a thriller that was giving a similar start boost for Ben Affleck as director around 8 years ago. If here it goes as well would be nice to see. The movie has an excellent dosage of drama, tension and violence. It's less and less the case these days when I see a director + the script in this case, who knows exactly where should stop. Most often, either the movie rating limits it too much, or when that's not a problem the shock factor is preferred (which for me at least works probably differently than intended, as for horrors = simply disgust). This movie is R rated, but even so (spoiler) I don't know if I've seen in all more than 5 minutes where we had blood on the screen. Everything is in building the tension, in a way a la Hitchcock ... although the feeling is somehow different. I can't say more ;) again, see the movie ...

Rating: 4+ out of 5