Search

Evidence Of Blood

1999, Movie, R, 110 mins

starstarstarstar
Apprised of the unexpected death of his best friend, Sheriff Ray Tindal, true-crime novelist Jackson Kinley (David Strathairn) returns to his Georgia hometown. A brief visit stretches into a longer stay as Jackson becomes intrigued by the circumstances of Tindal's heart attack and by Tindal's lover Dora Overton (Mary McDonnell), who staunchly maintains that her father was wrongly executed for the murder of a teenage girl. Although D.A. Theodore Warfield (Sean McCann) resents Jackson's inquiries, Dora involves Jackson in the 40-year-old case, which had consumed Tindal before his untimely demise. In the process, Jackson discovers secrets about his own family's past. Photographed in autumnal hues, this is one of those dark and brooding dramas about emotional stasis and self-discovery in which psychology assumes equal stature with sleuthing. We're meant to view the unsolved murder as a symbolic hook on which to hang a catharsis, but the overly simplistic finale insists that all Jackson needs is the love of a good Dora. Not that it matters, because the entire enterprise is so jumbled — and the performances by the normally fine Straithairn and McDonnell are so lacking in nuance — that the audience loses patience long before the denouement. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
Advertisement

Advertisement