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 T. 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.

---

Plot Keywords:

louisiana | murder | hallucination | ghost | swamp boat | 

---

Taglines:

No one can escape the sins of the past.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

Levon Helm's last acting role.

---

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.

---

Quotes

Sam 'Hogman' Patin: A Blue Jay don't sit on a Mocking Bird's nest. The Mocking Bird will whoop the Blue Jay's ass every time.

---

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.

---

Connections

Follows Heaven's Prisoners (1996)

---

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

Excellently cast; and well-acted, directed, and photographed

There aren't too many movies where you find that each and every actor seems realistic, without overplaying his or her part. I definitely have a bias towards moody, dark Louisiana movies with psychotic killers and corruption. This movie has all the virtues of that genre. Tommy Lee Jones is excellent as a worn-out, aging, alcoholic detective (on the wagon) who has a strong moral sense, but cuts corners when he deems it necessary.

John Goodman is so versatile that I didn't recognize him as the same actor who was in The Big Lebowski which I had watched only the day before. The script was so adept that they handled the issues of race relations in what I considered a realistic manner without any preaching. The settings, whether swamps at night, Southern mansions, broken down shacks, or merely country scenery all seemed highly realistic. The editing was excellent. Thus, the timing of most scenes was just right, so there wasn't the problem of boredom.

The only reason I gave the movie an 8 rather than a 10 is that it suffered from too much mumbled dialogue, so you have to be willing to live with about 25% of dialogue shooting past you (unless perhaps you are from "Loozyana"), and perhaps missing some of the relationships between people early on. However, while this meant that you might miss out on some of the subtleties, the story is not that fast moving and complex that it warrants bypassing the movie, given all its virtues.

Details

Official Sites:

TFM Distribution [France]

Country:

France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 2009 (France)

Also Known As:

Dans la brume électrique

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,999,896

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ithaca Pictures, Little Bear, TF1 International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 102 min (DVD) 117 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1