Updated: 13 September 1997

PHENOMENON

Phenomenal. There's more to this movie than meets the eye. That isn't what I was expecting, and surprises are kind of nice.

Nowadays, it's rare for a film to come along that has something to say, and for the saying of it to matter. This film is like that. On one level it touches you, and on another, it teaches. Much of what it has to say has to be extrapolated by the audience, not because the message is complicated, but because--like the character in the film that has something to say--you have to listen to it. No listening, no message. It's not a hard job of extrapolation, however, as the film provides all the information artfully and intelligently.

As in many of the films I really like, there is a wonderful moment that turns the film into something more. After that, my judgment is in question, because my bias will have swung too far in favor of the film to be even remotely objective. That moment in this movie was unexpected, taking me by surprise with its simplicity. John Travolta, who plays George Malley, is bringing a bouquet to the woman whose heart he wants to win. He is creating the bouquet of the wildflowers between his house and hers. On the way, he meets her children and is going to give them a lift home, but stops to collect some blue flowers. As he's adding them to the bunch, the girl notices that the bouquet is tied with a garbage tie. She promptly removes the ribbon from her hair and takes the bouquet from George and proceeds to tie a small bow around the stems.

It's such a tiny part of the movie, but the show slows down long enough to watch her fingers as she wraps the ribbon around the flowers that are going to be a gift for her mother.

Anytime a movie takes the time to not rush past the beautiful things, it scores with me. THE COLOR PURPLE said it well. As they walk through a field of tall, purple, flowers, Shug (Margaret Avery) tells Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), the God gets "p----d off" when people fail to notice the things that are beautiful. Things like the color purple, for instance. Too many movies are so busy trying to jam all their precious plot in between the studio opener and the end credits that they're hoping you'll just...infer...the "amenities."

It is in that small, flower-wrapping, scene, though, that PHENOMENON first hints that it is more than just another vehicle for John Travolta. There is a tiny bit of symbolism in that scene, whether intended or not, and it details the theme of this film. If we let them, people can share a bit of themselves, it says, and together make something more beautiful.

Now, that's not a new message, or a complicated one, but in an age where everyone is trying pretty hard to keep to themselves, it comes with startling force in a modern movie.

And what I love--really love--is the way the whole movie reinforces that simple message with powerful symbols that are neither over-developed (in your face), nor under-developed (incomplete). The woman, Lace Pennamin (Kyra Sedgwick) is the symbol for most of us. She is trying to avoid "complications." She comes right out and says that she likes things predictable, prefers not to be surprised. So it is she that must eventually leave her self-constructed haven in order to experience the "phenomenon" of George Malley's message.

Robert Duvall is also wonderful as the town doctor. The relationship between himself and George is developed in some quirkily effective ways. Forest Whitaker does a nice turn as Nate Pope, George's best friend who, after all is said and done, has found that he, too, is capable of more.

If there is one qualm I had in rating this as a five-star film, it is that none of the performances seem especially extraordinary, something that seems to me a prerequisite. But they are all so adequately appropriate to the role that I decided not to dither. The movie warrants it.

There are other great touches. Lace makes these wooden chairs that, in order to appreciate, you have to sit in the right way. Same as the movie. It is as she's sitting in one of her own chairs at the very end of the movie that we see her reach an even greater understanding of the man that she understood better than most. Then she wraps her arms around her children in a reaffirmation of that understanding.

Then the ending. It is a panorama that indicates that more people got George's message than you would have thought. And the magic of the message is being woven before your eyes.

A vehicle for John Travolta? Yes. And so much more that I'm finding myself eager to see what he does next, because [since PULP FICTION] he's been picking some winners.