In the Electric Mist (2009)

A detective in post-Katrina New Orleans has a series of surreal encounters with a troop of friendly Confederate soldiers while investigating serial killings of local prostitutes, a 1965 lynching, and corrupt local businessmen.

Director:

Bertrand Tavernier

Writers:

Jerzy Kromolowski (screenplay), Mary Olson-Kromolowski (screenplay)

Stars:

Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Dave Robicheaux
John Goodman	...	Julie 'Baby Feet' Balboni
Peter Sarsgaard	...	Elrod Sykes
Mary Steenburgen	...	Bootsie Robicheaux
Kelly Macdonald	...	Kelly Drummond
Justina Machado	...	Rosie Gomez
Ned Beatty	...	Twinky LeMoyne
James Gammon	...	Ben Hebert
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Lou Girard
Levon Helm	...	General John Bell Hood
Buddy Guy	...	Sam 'Hogman' Patin
Julio Cesar Cedillo	...	Cholo Manelli
Bernard Hocke	...	Murphy Doucet
John Sayles	...	Michael Goldman
Gary Grubbs	...	Sheriff

Storyline

Lt. Dave Robicheaux, a detective in New Iberia, Louisiana, is trying to link the murder of a local hooker to New Orleans mobster Julie (Baby Feet) Balboni, who is co-producer of a Civil War film. At the same time, after Elrod Sykes, the star of the film, reports finding another corpse in the Atchafalaya Swamp near the movie set, Robicheaux starts another investigation, believing the corpse to be the remains of a black man who he saw being murdered 35 years before.

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Plot Keywords:

louisiana | murder | hallucination | ghost | swamp boat | 

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Taglines:

No one can escape the sins of the past.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

TFM Distribution [France]

Country:

France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead

Filming Locations:

Albania Plantation - 1842 LA 182 E., Jeanerette, Louisiana, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ithaca Pictures,Little Bear,TF1 International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 102 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Indirectly regarded as a goof: While it is true that John Bell Hood lost his right leg at Chickamauga, his soldiers chipped in and bought him a fine prosthetic leg of cork, imported from France. He was a Lieutenant General for Joe Johnston, then from August, 1864 until January, 1865, a full General commanding the Army of Tennessee.

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Goofs

When Tommy Lee bashes the guy's head into the pay phone at the bus station, his head clearly goes between the phone and the divider, not hitting anything.

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Quotes

Dave Robicheaux: In the ancient world, people placed heavy stones on the graves of the dead so their souls would not wander and inflict the living. I always thought this was simply the practice of superstitious and primitive people. But I was about to learn that the dead can hover on the edge of our vision with the density and luminosity of mist, and their claim on the earth can be as legitimate and tenacious as our own.

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Alternate Versions

The film was taken away from its director, Bertrand Tavernier, in post-production, the producers preparing the edit of the film that was released in North America and the UK (running at 104 minutes). However, after the completion of the producers' cut of the film, Tavernier went back to the picture and created his own 'director's cut' of the film, running 117 minutes. This version of the film has been released widely in Europe, and is available on DVD (in an English-friendly version) in France and the Benelux countries.

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Connections

Follows Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

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Soundtracks

Damn Right, I've Got The Blues
Written by Buddy Guy
Performed by Buddy Guy with Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas

User Reviews

Fantastic adaptation of the James Lee Burke, Dave Robicheaux Series!

I have been a long time fan of the writing of James Lee Burke. When they made Heaven's Prisoners into a movie I was disappointed with the finished product. So was everyone else and they didn't make any more of his books into films. I was glad to see that now, years later, they have decided to make another film. The casting is excellent and the story telling is true to the book. Tommy Lee Jones plays the main character about as well as I could imagine anyone playing Dave. I hope the movie is received with good reviews because I would love to see more of the series made into films. I highly recommend this excellent film to anyone. I think that James Lee Burke fans would be pleased, as well as people unfamiliar with the books. See this movie!!! It does not disappoint. The only thing I wish they had done, was make a movie out of one of the books that has Clete Purcel as a main character. I would love to see Black Cherry Blues made into a movie. I just think it would be hard to cast Clete. Maybe that character is too big for the silver screen.