Bertrand Tavernier's In the Electric Mist (2009) has received a preliminary release date: February 8th. Nominated for Golden Bear at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.
Adapted from a James Lee Burke novel, In The Electric Mist is a gripping tale of murder, suspicion, violence and guilt, as the ghosts of the past come back to haunt the protagonists of the present out in Lousiana’s New Iberia Bayou. French director, and noted American crime aficionado, Bertrand Tavernier has wisely chosen to update the action of the Burke’s novel (set in the early Nineties) to a post-Katrina Louisiana, which adds a sociopolitical resonance and contemporary relevance to the film’s events, especially in the light of its focus upon the mob, who looted millions of dollars of reconstruction money in the wake of the hurricane’s devastation. If you’re looking for a slick, neatly Hollywood crime thriller then this is not for you, but if you want a film with more ambiguity, which poses questions as well as offering answers, then I heartily recommend it.
This thriller-cum-noir-murder mystery opens with the discovery of the brutal, sadistic murder of a young prostitute, who had connections with mobster-turned-film-producer Julie "Baby Feet" Balboni (John Goodman, having an absolute riot), one-time school friend and now bitter enemy of investigating detective Dave Robicheaux (Tommy Lee Jones). The murder investigation is further complicated by the discovery of a second, much older corpse, by alcoholic film star Peter Sarsgaard.
Robicheaux becomes convinced the murders are connected and that a much older incident from the Bayou’s dark and distant past holds the key to the murder of the young woman. This theory is compounded by his hallucinatory, dreamlike encounters with a long-dead Confederate general, with whom he shares an ethereal bond, haunted as they both are by the past, each driven by a world-weary conscience and desire to conquer their demons.
The fusion of the crime thriller’s grim reality with the otherworldly fantasy of the ghostly confederate army is, for the most part, very effective, impressively supported by Bruno de Keyser’s excellent and atmospheric cinematography, which transforms the Bayou itself into one film’s central characters, making the appearance of the ghostly general all the more appropriate to the setting.
Lee Jones is every inch the Vietnam veteran-cum-hard boiled police detective, a guilt-wracked Catholic with a complicated interpretation of the law, who is certainly not a stereotypical lawman. Some will worry that his sherriff/detective/lawman persona is wearing a little thin but what I personally find impressive is the subtle variety Jones has been able to bring to a number of roles which bear such a surface resemblance. Uttering lines such as: "Time is always on the bad guys’ side," is certainly playing with fire, evoking as it does the cliché of the vigilante lawman, but Jones brings a rare credibility to the persona, which allows him to sidestep the danger of self-parody.
There is a seminal moment in the film when Dave Robicheaux is talking to his wife about the nature of understanding. He says that "If you don’t look, you never will see and if you look a little less you might see a whole lot more." This message may appear somewhat cryptic, but it could also hold the key to understanding the film itself, just as it does to Dave’s search for the link between the two murders and for the connection between the mob and the killer. We need to step back a little from the narrative thread to appreciate the carefully crafted ambiance and deliberate open-endedness of the film, as Tavernier moves from the beaten path of the convenient certainties and definitive endings of the Hollywood thriller towards something more ambiguous and unsettling.
This is a crime thriller where some of the answers will remain forever a mystery, where the quest for understanding is both complicated and aided by spectres of the past and where some things are deliberately kept beyond the realm of understanding.
Any word on if its the European or American cut? Looking forward to this as I'm a big James Lee Burke fan. Alec Baldwin played Dave Robicheaux in the mediocre Heaven's Prisoners but Tommy Lee Jones should be good, rumours are that he's also bought Dixie City Jam which would make a very good film. I don't think there's a director brave enough to tackle Burke's masterpiece The Tin Roof Blowdown.
Bad news, it turned up today with a stated running time of 98 minutes (the company appear not to have noticed the 4% only applies to PAL DVD, not blu) making it the 102 minute cut. Back it goes.
I've checked the disc and it is the 102 minute cut even though the High Fliers (more like: supported by the occasional gust of hot air, if this is anything to go by) website lists it as 117 minutes. Disc has none of the features from the French edition and its a single layer.
Last edited by HotRats; 02-08-2010 at 04:50 PM.
Reason: Checked the disc
Does anybody know if there are any forced subs on the French release ??
Thanks
According to the DVDBeaver comparison rhe film does not force French subs when English audio is selected, but the video extras (all in English audio) DO have forced French subs, but I suppose that's minor considering the US release has no extras at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist
The French subs are not forced. You could order safely.
Pro-B
Do you know if Tavernier's commentary is in French or English? The DVDBeaver comparison doesn't mention it but it's listed on the back cover.
The review and coverscan at DVD.nl show there are no extras on the Dutch release, so it looks like TF1 has produced the definitive edition in France. I bought it off Amazon (it's less than 22 EUR right now) and I can also confirm that French subs are not hard-coded for the feature, BUT you must manually disable them with the remote as there is no subtitle option in the menus.
It was a decent film, but some of the acting from the unknowns I found to be wanting. The Making Of was quite good and doesn't shy away from discussing the problems of the production.
The German Blu-ray disc from Koch Media (May 28th, 2010)
122 minutes
Making of (32 minutes)
Deleted scenes (17 minutes)
Trailer
No Buddy Guy Interview though (~32 minutes in English), or interview with James Lee Burke (~ 52 minutes and also in English) or musical performance clips (~9 minutes in English), so it looks like the French is still the release to beat.
Again, the subtitles are NOT forced on the film, only on the extras.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
In the Electric Mist (Bertrand Tavernier)
Linear Mode
