Phenomenon is a 1996 American romantic fantasy drama film directed by Jon Turteltaub, written by Gerald Di Pego. In it, an amiable, small-town everyman is inexplicably transformed into a genius with telekinetic powers. It stars John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, Robert Duvall, and Jeffrey DeMunn. The original music score was composed and conducted by Thomas Newman.
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Plot
George Malley is an auto mechanic in a town in Northern California. He has a crush on single mother Lace. He lets her sell her handmade chairs at his shop, but secretly buys them himself. She is very closed off and rebuffs George's advances. After celebrating his 37th birthday at a bar with his best friend, Nate, and father figure, Doc Brunder, he sees a ball of shining bright white lights in the sky, which grows closer until it hits him with a loud bang, knocking him down. Nobody else sees the lights or hears the sound.
George begins to exhibit remarkable levels of intelligence. He easily absorbs vast amounts of information, formulates new, revolutionary ideas, and develops telekinesis. Not needing sleep, he spends each night reading multiple books.
George tries to use his new intelligence for the good of his community. He develops a powerful fertilizer, improves solar panel designs, and predicts an earthquake without any equipment. When Doc is called to aid a sick Portuguese man, George learns the language in minutes and helps translate. He then uses his telekinesis to rescue the man's young relative. George also formulates a plan to help Nate get together with Ella, the mother of the Portuguese boy he rescued. Nate is an amateur radio operator. While visiting him, George decodes and responds to a signal, though Nate asks him to forget about it, fearful they might be picking up information from a nearby air force base.