In the tiny town of Brixton, Georgia where nothing is private, a woman with supernatural clairvoyance, a young beautiful socialite who has mysteriously disappeared, and an assortment of colorful characters all collide. A haunting psychological thriller, The Gift is ultimately a profound celebration of the human spirit.
The film, directed by the acclaimed Sam Raimi, is a skillful balance of mystery, horror, and touching family drama. It includes a distinguished cast of Oscar nominees Cate Blanchett and Greg Kinnear, and Oscar winner Hilary Swank, The Matrix star Keanu Reeves, and rising young actors Giovanni Ribisi and Katie Holmes. The film is written by Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.
Since 1982's The Evil Dead, a film about five friends who go to a cabin in the woods for a vacation and discover the "Book of Dead", Sam Raimi has demonstrated his uncanny ability for telling powerful, disconcertingly real stories that delve into the supernatural. Similar thematically to his critically lauded film A Simple Plan, The Gift is a film about human redemption cloaked in a gripping thriller.
The good-natured Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett) is a recently widowed mother of three young boys who must bear the burden of "the gift" of psychic vision. To support herself and her family, Annie gives readings to a variety of emotionally troubled and needy neighbors, from a disturbed car mechanic to an abused housewife. "Most people who go for readings want to know about money, love and the future," explains Blanchett, "They're unsettled."
Yet not every "gift" is a blessing. There are those in the town who suspect that the messages in Annie's cards are simply hocus-pocus ... or worse, Satan's handiwork. When the wealthy, beautiful, and sexually promiscuous Jessica King (Holmes) is found missing, her bound and ravaged body begins to haunt Annie through her visions. When the authorities are short on leads, they reluctantly turn to Annie for clues. Now, even Annie has to confront the darkest depths of her gift and enter a world beyond her worst nightmares.
In an eerie small town where few people can be trusted and corruption infects every institution like a creeping vine, Annie must not only uncover Jessica's killer, but stop him before she becomes the next victim.
From a back room in her small Georgia home, Annie Wilson uses her telepathic talents to perform psychic readings for neighbors. A widow with three young children to support, Annie bears the cumbersome burden of carrying the town's problems on her shoulders while struggling with her own. She continues to bear the guilt over the accidental death of her beloved husband.
Annie's advice has a particularly profound effect on tormented car mechanic Buddy Cole (Giovanni Ribisi), with whom Annie has developed a relationship akin to a mother and son; and Valerie Barksdale (Hilary Swank), who seeks Annie's insight about her philandering husband, Donnie (Keanu Reeves).
Though Annie does her best to make her three boys Mike (Lynnsee Provence), Miller (Hunter McGilvray) and Ben (David Brannen) her priority, the needs of her desperate clients often prevail. When Valerie Barksdale's problems with her husband escalate, however, Annie finds herself in real danger. Annie advises distraught, blackeyed Valerie to leave her husband. Over the next few days, Annie becomes the target of threats and disturbing vandalism.
Soon after, Annie and her friend Linda (Kim Dickens) go out for a night on the town at the country club dance and run into Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear), the principal at Annie's son's school, and his fiancee Jessica King (Katie Holmes).
At the dance, Wayne and Annie connect through mutual compassion, but before any real sparks fly, sexy Jessica has already extinguished them. Annie accidently witnesses Jessica having an affair with District Attorney David Duncan (Gary Cole) in a back room of the private country club.
Days later, Jessica disappears. With nowhere else to turn, and sensing her "gift" may indeed hold some validity, Wayne and Jessica's father, accompanied by local authorities, ask Annie for help in solving the case. At first, Annie is unable to provide any clues. As time goes on, she is plagued by increasingly disturbing nightmares and images. Annie's visions effectively lead police to a pond owned by volatile local Donnie Barksdale. A body is found. Donnie is arrested for murder.
As the star witness at Donnie's murder trial, Annie is called to testify about her specific, vivid visions of Jessica's disappearance. She is ill at ease on the stand, where her integrity is questioned, her soul is bared and her "gift" is mocked by defense attorney Gerald Weems (Michael Jeter). Her testimony that Jessica was involved with Donnie the night of her disappearance is damning. Barksdale is ultimately hauled off to jail.
Even with Donnie Barksdale behind bars, life in Brixton continues to be unsettling. First, Buddy's past ignites his present in a horrific scene at his parents home where even Annie's intervention cannot dissuade Buddy from taking revenge on his father. He is ultimately taken into custody. Annie is continually revisited by powerful, baffling visions that increasingly point to the fact that Donnie, although violent and vengeful, is not the man who killed Jessica King. Kept awake at night by visions of her own death at the hands of the real killer, Annie tries to persuade a reluctant District Attorney Duncan to reopen the case.
The supernatural becomes terrifyingly real when Annie's "gift" becomes her only hope to save herself and her family. Annie must not only figure out who killed Jessica King, but stop the real killer before she becomes his next victim.
In a terrifying finale, Annie's gift leads her to the edge of the abyss, where only her commitment to the truth can set her free.
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