THE GIFT Trailer

Bullying is a smorgasbord of crazy stupidity. He could be sociopathic or simply be a jerk. Parents get in on the action and believe their little devil is a little angel. School faculty turns a blind eye to avoid lawsuits. Nobody cares about the victim. Moreover, bullying can have some very serious consequences. The victim may go on to plan the end of their bullying one way or another.  All of this can be avoided if everyone learned to care about each other more than a little. Either that or see the truth. People are imperfect creatures and even little slights can stay in your mind for years building up to a tragedy waiting to happen. All that wasted time and energy could go into making the world a better place but many people like to be petty. They’re petty and they live that way until their very end. This is the trailer for The Gift.

This mystery thriller is directed by Joel Edgerton and stars Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall. A young married couple, Simon and Robyn, runs into an old acquaintance, Gordo. After a series of unexpected encounters and weird gifts, a secret from the past is uncovered. My assumption based on the theme is that Gordo was bullied by Simon for being fat. Gordo is the Spanish word for fat and people with excess weight are often shamed for it. Furthermore, his proper name is Gordon as mentioned in the trailer. I think there is a lesson to be learned here. People, like Lannisters, don’t forget their debts.

Let’s start at the beginning. I like the use of black and white yearbook pictures in the trailer, because it’s creepy to look back after all those years. The bad part is that it takes approximately 43 seconds to get to the actual movie scenes when the trailer is only a minute and 18 seconds long. It’s good that they’re making full use of the narrator, but the trailer should spend more time showing highlights of the film itself. Not to say it doesn’t do that but yearbook pictures make it seem like filler – simply filling the trailer with excess stock footage that barely has anything to do with the narrative other than theme.

I like the small things though. Watch the very first scene of the trailer where there are actual people and Simon puts his hand on Gordo. Notice Gordo’s reaction wasn’t that of sincere human warmth. The effect is messed up when Simon says “that guy’s odd” later on. One of the first rules of storytelling is “show, don’t tell” – and they fail here. The audience has to pick it up and that requires a little faith on everyone’s part.

I want to give credit to Rebecca Hall’s character for being the sleuth in her family. Nowhere in the trailer is Simon saying “why”. She’s the one saying things like “I think he wants to hurt us…” or “What did you do to him”? Smart people ask these questions or make these comments. Another interesting quote from the trailer is from Gordo(n) himself: “You may be done with the past but the past isn’t done with you.”…

This film looks alright if you have some time to waste.

The Gift comes out August 7th 2015 in the U.S. and the U.K. For the full list, click here.

You may be done with the past but we’re not. Tell us your thoughts or share stories!

(top image source: STX Entertainment)