In the Electric Mist (2009)

Bayous are frightening places which seem to hold dark secrets of spiritual pasts. Beyond the alligators and water moccasins there are ghosts which lie and wait for the moment when their histories must be told again. Perhaps they are evil, or perhaps they are simply ancient and dreadful in their eternal waters for no other reason than the idea that they have seen more than man.

If they are not evil they at least birth evil deeds and that is our story. Tommy Lee Jones plays Dave, a local sheriff somewhere in the swaps of Louisiana. Dave has been investigating the murder of a young prostitute, his findings leading him deep into the pit of corruption and small town crime. As he continues his work he finds connections to a lynched black man, dead some 40 years, two other murders, the mob and bad cops. Dave is a strong man and well liked, but there is more to this broken world than immediately visible, the likes of which might just destroy him.

Jones is an obvious choice for the rough yet likable local law enforcer--I half expect that he brought his own guns to the filming--and here he gives a performance of someone who is confident in his abilities simply because the film is nothing of a stretch. I missed at first actually how good a job he does due to the truth that he is structured to play such a role. Dave is kind, a family man with wrinkles around his eyes which reveal deep thought more than wisdom. Dave isn't wise, otherwise he would know not to get himself mixed up in what he does, but he is a very moral man with ethics that go astray from the norm though never veer from themselves.

He goes up against the untouchable crime boss, Baby Feet (a slimy John Goodman), whom Dave suspects of having killed the hooker Cherry Leblanc. Someone like Baby Feet is not to be trifled with, but Dave's warped sense of heroics make him a formidable force.

It is dark with many twists that bring the plot to starts and stops. Characters float in and out like specters, sometimes shedding light on the mystery, but more often folding another layer of gray cloth onto an already shrouded tale. Ghosts become actuality when he begins to see Confederate soldiers who guide him on a path to what he considers righteousness. Their appearance is confusing and never fully resolved. We are left with little more than some quote about a war never fully being over. How the Civil War and prostitution are connected is beyond me, but it gives a sense of spiritual gravity to the story and also provides an interesting twist.

The setting provides a reason for ghosts and the ghosts provide a reason for this film. Had the script not had them this would be nothing more than a made for TV movie or an overlong episode of any cop drama, and it would be little better than either. It does feature two terrific leads, but it is bogged down by a whole host of poorly acted supporting characters, a lackluster story and too many loose ends. If I don't care about who lives or dies and if there is no real sense of resolution then what is the point?

In the end this film is nothing more than a wisp of a poltergeist's shroud: it is hazy, rather formless and easily lost in a breeze.

2/4