The Gift (2000) (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #63

I saw this film in the cinema when it was released in 2001. If I remember correctly, it was a random choice. I lived close to a cinema, and I had some time on my hands, so I decided to see a film. It was a multiplex, I forget how many screens, but there were only a couple of films that were about to start, and this looked like the best. I didn't even know it was directed by Sam Raimi until it started. Wow! It knocked me off my feet. I wonder if I would ever have discovered it if I hadn't walked into the cinema that day.

Most American films take place in New York, or to be more specific, they take place in Manhattan. In second place is Washington DC. Between them, those two locations must make up more than half of Hollywood's films. If aliens invade, they land in Manhattan. If a monster crawls out of the sea, it arrives in Manhattan. If a giant meteorite is heading for Earth, it'll fall directly on Manhattan. That's actually understandable. Hollywood wants to make films that audiences can relate to, and New York City is the place that everyone knows. The landmarks are immediately recognisable.

I'm thankful that Sam Raimi doesn't follow this pattern, unless he absolutely has to. The Spider-Man films are set in New York, but his other films are in more imaginative locations. "The Gift" takes place in a fictional small town in Georgia called Brixton. There are no landmarks to tell the viewer where he is, but he's immediately at home. It's small town America. There's a courthouse, and there's a church where every good person goes on Sunday.

Annie Wilson doesn't go to church. Does that make her a bad person? In the eyes of the townspeople, yes. She has a gift. She's psychic. It runs in her family. She can see both the future and the past. She's called a witch and a Satanist, but neither label applies to her. She's just a single mother struggling to earn enough money to feed her three children after the death of her husband. If she can make money from telling the future, so be it. However, it seems like most of her clients come to her for advice that any counsellor could give, even without psychic abilities. Valerie Barksdale is a woman whose husband hits her, so she comes to Annie to ask her what to do. I could answer that question myself.

The film is about a murder investigation. Jessica King, played by Katie Holmes, is engaged to the local school's headmaster. One evening she disappears and is feared dead. She's known to be promiscuous, so anyone could be a suspect. Jessica's father asks Annie to find her body, much to the distress of the town sheriff, who doesn't believe in hocus pocus.

I've written detailed reviews about this film and its cast in the past, but I forgot to mention Rosemary Harris as Annie's grandmother. She only appears for a few minutes, but her performance is so outstanding that she lifts the quality of the whole film. She must have impressed Sam Raimi, because he called on her to play Peter Parker's Aunt May in the Spider-Man films.

Success Rate:  + 2.5

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