Tuesday, September 1, 2020

THE GIFT (2015)


This is probably an unpopular opinion but as far as the exploration of bullying goes (and it’s sometimes long-lasting effects), I think The Gift did a much better job than something like Oldboy. There are plenty of twisted revenge films centered around getting back at someone because of past bullying but I think we can all agree that Oldboy and The Gift have been compared the most in recent years. And rightfully so. They’re both modern films about elaborate revenge plots against a protagonist who started a damaging rumor that essentially ruined the lives of multiple people back in the day (although in all fairness, the rumor spread in Oldboy wasn’t exactly done on purpose like the rumor in The Gift).

Both films are very much close first cousins at the end of the day...

Oldboy / The Gift

Oldboy / The Gift

Oldboy / The Gift



Oldboy might be a better movie-watching experience overall, but when it comes to the bullying aspect - The Gift does something that Oldboy really doesn’t which is show that some kids who bully, spread rumors & antagonize don’t always learn from their old ways and become better people later in life. Not everyone “grows”. Some do. And that’s important. Depending on past discrepancies, some people should be forgiven and allowed to learn from their mistakes in order to be better people as adults. But some people who were assholes between the ages of 13-18 will remain assholes for the rest of their lives. 
I’m fully aware that when children/kids/teenagers bully, there’s usually something deeper going on that makes them that way. But in recent years - and this is just me - I see more empathy for the bully than the actual victims. Not always, but sometimes. It’s important to get to the root of what makes young people mean and lash out at others. But let’s not forget that there are still victims of said meanness & bullying that deserve some empathy & understanding as well. I feel like some people romanticize the idea of “fixing” and/or “helping” bullies so much that they step over and forget about the actual victim. Again - it is important to understand and potentially stop the reasons that would make someone a bully. But it’s also important to help & heal the victims of the bullying at the same time.
Most of us know that it’s often times a cycle. A kid who is a bully is usually bullied/picked on or abused by someone older/bigger so they take it out on an easy/smaller/vulnerable target. That easy target could (and sometimes does) eventually lash out at someone/something smaller and defenseless thus creating the cycle of bullying (there’s a few lines in The Gift that give some insight in to why the bully character is the way he is and I guess it’s up to the viewer to decide if they want to express empathy & understanding or not).

In the film Jason Bateman plays “Simon” - a successful, career driven husband with a child on the way (there is an important subplot surrounding his wife’s previous miscarriage and her mental health as well). Things seem to be going great on the surface until Simon reconnects with an old high school classmate in the form of “Gordon” (Joel Edgerton). It’s clear from the start that Gordon’s intentions are obviously rooted in some type of sinister revenge plot but what’s so interesting is that before his plot is really set in place, Simon’s world slowly starts to fall apart. His job, marriage etc.
This is important to note because while Gordon’s plan to get revenge on Simon is a big part of the story, you get the sense that Simon’s world was going to fall apart regardless because of the kind of person was and still he is  (back in high school Simon spread a nasty rumor about Gordon that escalated in to something very serious). Simon is still the same antagonistic asshole as an adult that he was as a kid (we learn this more & more as the story unfolds). This to me hammers home my beliefs that when some people (...SOME) continue to live life as an asshole, karma will eventually come for them in some form. 
Jason Bateman is excellent at playing a charismatic pricks which is what Simon is. This was perfect casting. The Gift utilizes his specific acting talents very well. Rebecca Hall’s performance as Simon’s wife “Robyn” shouldn’t be understated either. The subplot surrounding her is important and she’s also the vessel that exposes Simon's bullying.


Now...people getting what they deserve isn’t always the case. Some bullies/assholes/pieces of shit will go through life unscathed. Some go unscathed through life and manage to haunt their victims well in to adulthood. I think that’s what’s always so sad about the idea of these revenge stories. The revenge laid out in The Gift is slightly more realistic than the absolute batshit crazy revenge plot laid out in Oldboy, but it’s still kind of unrealistic (no disrespect to Oldboy because I do like that movie). No one is going to go through what Gordon went through to get revenge in real life (I say real life because The Gift does make a point to be rooted in reality whereas Oldboy does not). You need to be in a position of money & power to execute a revenge like in The Gift. And if you get to a place in life where you have the money & resources to ruin someone’s life, you don’t want to risk your position in life no matter how much trauma someone put you through. You should be enjoying your life and happy that you’re far removed from your shitty past (also - it goes without saying that holding on to certain traumas and wanting to get revenge on someone for over 20 years is incredibly unhealthy & destructive). I realize that’s easier said than done in some cases. I’ve never been bullied (or been a bully) so perhaps it isn’t my place to give advice on the subject.


While The Gift makes for a great (and obvious) double feature with Oldboy, it would also make for a great triple feature with Lynch’s Lost Highway & Haneke’s Cache.
All three films not only use similar imagery and have a lot of the same scenes, but they’re all tied together by the idea of a (well-off) couple being tormented by cryptic messages & voyeuristic video footage. All three films also deal with the idea of one’s skeletons slowly coming out of the closet...

Lost Highway / Cache / The Gift

Lost Highway / Cache / The Gift

Lost Highway / Cache / The Gift

Lost Highway / Cache / The Gift

Lost Highway / Cache / The Gift

Lost Highway / Cache / The Gift



While most victims of bullying don’t deserve what they get, it should be noted that the victims in movies like The Gift or Oldboy aren’t the “good guys”. I understand that there are undeserved traumas that people like Gordon had to deal with, but breaking the law and putting the lives of other innocent people at risk (which is an understatement in the case of The Gift) isn’t the route to go down (I say most because there is a small percentage of weirdly sadistic people who instigate and openly invite bullying then turn around and play victim).
What’s interesting is that a story like the The Gift is also a perfect case for indifference. While I don’t think potential murder, potential rape and ruining someone’s life is something I would do if I were Gordon, I would also kind of look the other way depending on the situation. I wouldn’t stop Gordon’s revenge plot against Simon but I also wouldn’t encourage it either. Being indifferent can be a shitty thing depending on the situation (and it certainly would be in this case), but if you’ve seen The Gift I think some of you would agree with my stance on some level. If you haven’t seen this movie yet (which kind of flew under the radar back in 2015 in comparison to other films), I think once you see it you’ll understand where I’m coming from considering what happened to Gordon.


I’ve taken a few light shots at Oldboy in this piece but no matter how much of an absolute fantasy that movie is, it does get one thing right depending on your outlook on things. The suicide at the end of Oldboy makes the most sense as far as the story goes (I’m talking about fake characters in a fake movie. I would never suggest this in a real scenario). It’s sad and I don’t wish that on anyone but if you’ve dedicated the large majority of your life to getting back at someone and you finally achieve that goal - what else is there to live for? That sounds harsh (and I know there’s still plenty of life left worth living), but the amount of time that was spent/wasted when you could have moved on with your life is kind of overwhelming & devastating once you take a step back and think about everything (I swear I’m not trying to sound insensitive but that was a small part of Lee Woo-Jin’s decision at the very end of the film). The victims in Oldboy and The Gift essentially had their heads down for the entirety of their 20’s & 30’s and never looked up. There was so much more to live for. As the kids say these days - these bullies were (and forever will be) living “rent-free” in their heads. Don’t let bullies win by living rent-free in your head long after childhood. Do you what you can to move on and perhaps karma will do it’s job. 


LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...