Phenomenon

Phenomenon (1996) — watch online on iFILM: a fantasy drama directed by Jon Turteltaub, with John Travolta as George Malley, a small-town mechanic who sees a blinding light on his birthday and wakes up the next morning able to absorb books in hours and grasp concepts he never studied.

George's mind accelerates without warning. He picks up a foreign language in an afternoon, solves local problems no one else could crack, and starts sensing things before they happen. Kyra Sedgwick plays Lace, a single mother and furniture maker who keeps her distance, while his friends Nate (Forest Whitaker) and Doc Brunder (Robert Duvall) watch with a growing unease they can't name. The town that once knew him now isn't sure what to make of him.

The film uses its fantastical premise to ask quieter questions — about what we fear in people who suddenly outgrow what we expect of them. Stream Phenomenon (1996) online on iFILM.