Out of Blue

Carol Morley (Dreams of a Life, The Falling) returns with a wonderfully stylised, offbeat noir thriller about a murder investigation and multiple realities.

Solitary recovering alcoholic Detective Mike Hoolihan (Patricia Clarkson) is called out to the scene of a possible homicide at an observatory. Jennifer, an expert on black holes and the beautiful daughter of wealthy veteran Colonel Tom Rockwell, has been shot at point-blank. Some of the facts in the case bear remarkable similarity to unsolved murders from the past and every new piece of information seems to take Mike further away from understanding the crime. And yet, she finds herself strangely affected by the case, as old memories resurface.

Adapted from Martin Amis’ Night Train, Morley has created a moody detective story with an almost Lynchian dry wit – a world slightly askew, yet played straight, with heart and soul, by a splendid ensemble (Jackie Weaver, Toby Jones, James Caan). In Mike, Morley delivers yet another compellingly idiosyncratic female character and Clarkson’s brilliant performance mines the vulnerability and longing under the detective-issue stoicism. Working on a big and bold canvas, Morley impresses, while Clint Mansell’s evocative, ethereal score soars through the stars that populate the sky over New Orleans.