French director Betrand Tavernier usually makes (excellent) films in his own language; but 'In The Electric Mist' is set in deepest Lousiana, and not the Cajun-speaking part either. It's a solid police procedural, but it never rises to the heights of Tavernier's greatest work: one by one, the bodies mount up, strangely without causing anyone but the hero exceptional concern, while the overall portrait of the deep south is somewhat clichéd, a racist place (although the real villains are more misanthropist than particularly racist) but one where the ghost of a confederate general is somehow also a symbol of honour and decency. Tommy Lee Jones puts in a decent turn in the lead role, and I also liked the soundtrack (though it sounded more like mountain than bayou music to me). It's a watchable film, but not one that takes its viewer in any surprising directions.

Some films deserve a better fate. This is in my opinion the case with 'In the Electric Mist' which is totally unknown to most of the cinema fans because it seems to not having been released in cinema theaters in the US. This is a very hard to understand decision, as this is a much better than the average detective movies, better than many other similar films released around that date, it's well acted, beautifully filmed, directed by a well-known French director (Bertrand Tavernier) and with supreme star Tommy Lee Jones as lead actor. What do I know about the art of film distribution, though? Probably not too much.

The story is set in the swamps of Louisiana and features detective David Robicheaux which some may remember as having been played by Alec Baldwin in Heaven's Prisoner more than a decade before this film was made (the character is inspired by the same series of novels). The atmosphere of the Cajun country with its fogs and smells, legends and collection of unique characters makes for a good background for mysteries and hidden secrets and Tavernier makes a good use of it in a way that predicts Beasts of the Southern Wild. Nobody is surprised when generals and soldiers from the Civil War fought more than a century before show up from behind the fogs, and the phantoms of the older conflicts of race and class mix with the personal daemons the heroes have to face.

Watching Tommy Lee Jones playing the justice-driven detective (although his means are not always really orthodox) is always a pleasure, and to a large extent the film relies on him. He is helped by an excellent supporting cast, with John Goodman featuring as one of the lead bad guys, and Mary Steenburgen as the classy wife of Robicheaux. While the script does not really close perfectly every corner of the story, there is cursive story telling in the style of the big detective American novels of the 40s, and the heroes have the same naive faith that the good cause of justice is worth risking everything to have it prevail. Bertrand Tavernier has filmed with European lens a very American story in a very American landscape, and despite the relative low-key ending (maybe the weak part of the movie) it's a good film to look for and watch.

Lt. Dave Robicheaux (Tommy Lee Jones) is investigating a dead body found by movie stars Elrod Sykes (Peter Sarsgaard) and his girlfriend Kelly Drummond (Kelly Macdonald). They're filming a Civil War film. Robicheaux is reminded of a black man he saw murdered as a teen.

There are a lot of great actors trying to play southern. Director Bertrand Tavernier just doesn't have the skills to bring an intensity to the movie. He also doesn't have the touch to bring out the local flavors. That might be all the big Hollywood actors, and the unimaginative locations. The closest he gets is casting Buddy Guy and having him play some music. The story is a slow prodding march. The clues aren't illuminating to solve the murder mystery. The only good thing here is watching Tommy Lee Jones in action. At the end of the movie, I wasn't even sure who they're after.