Bringing back my little Times Of Yore entires, I’ve decided to take a break from the music and focus on a film I used to love when I was in high school.
The movie was called Gift. Does anyone out there remember this movie?
It starred Perry Farrell, of Jane’s Addiction fame, and his girlfriend at the time Casey Niccoli as well as included some Jane’s Addiction songs. The film focused on a semi-autobiographical drug-addicted tragic love story that involved mainly heroin and does not necessarily have a happy ending.
Watching the movie I knew that Perry Farrell and Casey Niccoli were an item in the early nineties. While the movie surrounded their love there were also heavy doses of fiction making for a wild viewing. I remember a lot of my friends getting confused after viewing the movie. I do not want to ruin anything so I will not metion the scenes that caused the confusion.
I should note that this was not intended to be a Jane’s Addiction movie and the band was only featured in a few scenes. The film created by Perry Ferrell and Casey Niccoli was more of a vision between the two lovers.
One part of the film showed a live cover of Sly & The Family Stone‘s “Don’t Call Me N*****, Whitey” featuring Ice T and Body Count. Seeing them on stage with Jane’s Addiction was, to me at the time, amazing (still is).
I also remember one of the lines said by Perry Farrell in the movie that was chilling to my ears:
“What would you do if you came home and found the person you loved the most in the world lying dead on the floor?”
At a day and age where I was turning from a teenager into a young adult, this movie opened my eyes to things never before I had thought of. Hardcore drugs, overdose, depression… I watched it over and over with my friends and sometimes alone. I loved the performances by Jane’s Addiction even if they were brief but more so I loved the art aspect of it as well as the performance and execution of the idea by a musician.
The story itself was less than what I needed as a kid trying to learn what love was all about. At times it was sweet to see the two in love and happy but towards the latter end of the film tragedy strikes and scarred my young eyes.
Sadly the VHS I obtained from Half Price Books for a only $7.98 collected dust for years and I finally rid of it thinking I would never want to watch it again. Wrong.
As luck would have it though it is coming to DVD. The film is scheduled to be released on DVD as part of the Jane’s Addiction box set, A Cabinet of Curiosities in April 2009.
