A Filmmaker's Review: "The Gift" (2015)

So, I recently watched this film off a recommendation from someone online and they basically stated that it was a fun thriller to sit through. In reality, it wasn't really fun at all. Instead it was a bit of a mess, you didn't really get invested in any of the characters - you just got a bit of a blur and there was no really story. I didn't like the way it was presented in that the woman was being 'pulled around' if you will. If someone I loved did that to me, I would just get up and walk out on him and never come back - it didn't seem realistic for her to stay. I don't really have a history with this film as I had never actually heard of it, the actors or the director in my life - and so, I must have managed to completely miss it. It's not like me to miss things but I think this one just slipped away from me.

I was lead to believe that this was going to be a clever film on the lines of "Inception" whilst having all the thrills of a Shymalan movie. Instead, this film was a bit of a let-down since I could kind of predict what was going to happen because why else would there be a random wife involved? I mean, she had to be there for some reason - like some sort of Chekhov's Gun thing I think.

One thing I will say was pretty good and therefore, the two marks are awarded for is the scripting. The scripting in which it purposefully leaves out details. When the lady (Simon's sister) tells his wife all about what happened with Gordo and then has to leave out the intense details since she 'was 12 at the time' and nobody told her anything like that. The next thing that was and wasn't told was the fact that there were other people involved in what had happened and therefore, knew but were always telling Simon's wife to talk to Simon. The only problem I had with the scripting came down to the awful acting. The script on its own was very clever and very well-written.

Another thing I really didn't like about the film, as I have already stated, was the acting. It wasn't very believable even though the script was good, there were moments in the acting where I felt that certain things that happened on the screen wouldn't happen in real life. This part of the film was pretty much a mess and I don't think I'd watch it again for this reason.

The way it has been put together just seems a bit too simple for a thriller film. Normally in a thriller film, we get a number of different stories, we only see certain things at certain times and there's a kind of in-your-face irony about some of the symbols in the movie. In this film, I was trying to look for clever clues and these tropes you would associate with a good thriller film but I realised that I couldn't find any. It was all very obvious, from the guy wearing a monkey mask to the woman who couldn't have a baby. It was all a bit too obvious and, for that reason, it's getting a mark down. I just didn't feel thrilled throughout the vast majority of the film and the ending was a bit of a disappointment.

In conclusion, I think that this in this film though the scripting and the idea are both perfectly good, the execution of the film was poor and so, the mark down was imminent. I believe that there could've been better actors chosen to play the character - especially the wife, who required to be someone more loud and in-your-face to be able to combat the husband character (who I thought also needed to be more menacing). There were moments in the film that I felt were a bit of a let down because of the way it kind of just told you everything matter-of-fact. There was not a single suggestion throughout the film that he raped her, but all of a sudden, there's a video. It's very matter-of-fact and so, it doesn't really make good viewing. I think there are some major improvements that require to be made to this film in order to make it a good, watchable thriller experience.