DVD: In the Electric Mist

In the Electric Mist (the DVD was released March 3 by Image Entertainment) deserves a better outing than just DVD. In Europe a longer version will unspool theatrically but here in the States we'll have to settle for the disc release. Still there's enough going on cinematically in this Louisiana set mystery thriller to engage your interest.
Based on the Dave Robicheaux character created by James Lee Burke and directed by French master Bertrand Tavernier the movie serves up a delectable gumbo of backwoods politics, bayou style crime and earthy characters. Tommy Lee Jones headlines (Alec Baldwin played the same character in Heaven's Prisoners) as a rough no-nonsense lawman who's just as liable to pistol whip a suspect as he's to let another one walk on a marijuana charge in exchange for information. An impressive cast includes Peter Sarsgaard, Kelly Macdonald, Mary Steenburgen, Ned Beatty, and a rascally John Goodman as a scumbag named Baby Feet.
A serial killer leaves a bloody trail in Robicheaux's territory of New Iberia while at the same time a $40-million movie is lensing in town. Between the Hollywood stars (Sarsgaard) with their disregard for local laws and the murder investigation Robicheaux also digs up details of a decades old murder that he happened to witness as a young man. Jones and Goodman shine in particular. They may have once been friends long ago but they now clash over issues that include local corruption.
There's some sly comedy involving the movie crew and in once rather bizarre sequence Robicheaux, a recovering alcoholic, gets dosed with LSD at a movie wrap party. It gets better. On his way home from the party Robicheaux crashes his car in the bayou and comes across a squadron of Civil War ghosts (an amazing turn by musician/actor Levon Helm as a Confederate general). Rather than reject this weird vision, Robicheaux seeks the consul of the ghost general throughout the rest of the film.
Jones (like Eastwood) can play a part like this in his sleep but he definitely lends the film a gravitas not supplied by most of the other actors. In the Electric Mist has a creepy mood that's enhanced by its Southern milieu. But Tavernier also detours into ghost drama and pokes fun at the movie within the movie. It's a shame Electric Mist will only spin on disc in the US, the movie is accomplished enough to warrant a screen release.