In the Electric Mist

Aroview: Improving on previous James Lee Burke adaptation HEAVEN’S PRISONERS, this sturdy New Orleans thriller has Tommy Lee Jones assuming the plum role of alcoholic detective Dave Robichaux, here chasing a serial killer with a taste for young girls.

A measured policier with occasional breakouts (namely, Robichaux’s drunken hallucinatory conversations with a Confederate soldier), French dir. Tavernier provides a steady hand on the sweaty Bayou-set material that’s greatly augmented by its cast, including John Goodman in fine, sleazy form. Though never entirely compelling as a murder mystery, Jones’s performance as another grizzled straight-shooter holds our attention throughout. A longer – and better-received – cut of the film also exists, however has yet to gain wider distribution.

Adopt-a-Movie Kindly Adopted by Tamsin Grigg

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