What to Stream: Sam Raimi's Star-Studded Southern Gothic Tale 'The Gift'
Cate Blanchett in The Gift
The Gift (2000) Netflix, Amazon Instant, iTunes
The Basics: Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes, Keanu Reeves, and Greg Kinnear star in this thriller about a small-town psychic who’s reluctantly enlisted to aid a missing persons’ investigation that soon becomes a case of murder most foul.
If You Liked: Sling Blade, The Night of the Hunter, The Dead Zone
The late ’90s were a challenging period for Sam Raimi, as the Evil Dead auteur sought to prove to the industry at large that he wasn’t merely a purveyor of cult movie favorites. A Simple Plan was his first bid for mainstream respectability, and while that 1998 crime drama opened to strong reviews, it pulled in middling box office. The Kevin Costner baseball weepie For the Love of the Game followed a year later and fouled out with both audiences and critics. Then came The Gift in 2000, and while it also failed to scare up much business, it may just be Raimi’s finest achievement—a haunting blend of his horror roots and newfound dramatic ambitions. The movie certainly boasts his best ensemble: Cate Blanchett stars as Jessica King, the local clairvoyant in a small Southern town, whose talents are called upon to solve the case of a murdered young woman (Katie Holmes). Greg Kinnear, Hilary Swank, Gary Cole, and J.K. Simmons provide invaluable support, but the film’s standout performance is delivered by Keanu Reeves, effectively cast against his Zen-cool screen image as a violent abuser. More atmospheric and emotional than Raimi’s trademark gonzo horror-comedy fare, The Gift proved to Hollywood that he was ready for new and different challenges…like bringing a certain friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to the big-screen for the first time in 2002.
Watch the trailer below:
