Evidence of Blood (1998)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

To me, this movie is perfection.

Brilliant and touching

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

This was a made for TV movie and it's overall quality of screenplay is consistent with what you would normally expect. The story itself has a few twists and turns that keep you guessing and therefore is convincingly engaging as a thriller. David Strathairn was pretty solid in his role but I really did not find Mary Mcdonell very convincing - can't quite pin it exactly but there was something slightly odd about her performance. It does veer towards the unbelievable on a few occasions but it is still an enjoyable watch which is given more credibility with an unpredictable ending which I didn't expect. A good made for TV thriller. Nothing better.

A writer (Strathairn) returns to his roots at the death of a friend only to find himself investigating a decades old murder which sent a man to the electric chair on circumstantial evidence. That's the gist of this very ordinary journeyman whodunnit flick which can't conceal what it is; a low budget t.v. product made in Canada. "Evidence of Blood" does nothing to distinguish itself from scores of similar films which are built around a recycled plot tweaked to appear unique. An ordinary couch potato watch at best. (C-)

While it can be refreshing to see a mystery that isn't rushed and allows actors some breathing room, "Evidence of Blood" still takes too long to start putting all it's pieces together, and then rushes to finish things up. The climax is certainly gripping (though very contrived), but it still leaves some questions hanging in the air. Was the late Sheriff murdered? The film certainly hints at it more than once. And what was the real connection -if any - between the murdered woman and the man who was wrongly accused of her death? And the film drops the device of having Strathairn's character watch the video interview of a serial killer he's using as a book subject. That device doesn't illuminate the writer's character all that much, and it's existence only seems to matter for the killer's line "You never know who you really are" (or something like that), which figures at the film's denouement.David Strathairn is an excellent actor with the uncanny ability to subtly make his characters seem more complex than they may be on paper (certainly the case here). Mary McDonnell does well enough, and both she and Strathairn are a good match (though I'll admit that Strathairn had more sexual chemistry with Julianne Moore in a brief scene in "A Map Of The World" than he does with McDonnell.

This is one of my favorite types of movie: thoughtful, shy writer pieces together events from fifty years ago, exonerates an innocent man and discovers something important about himself in the process. The movie doesn't try to do too much, gives you enough information about the primary characters without leaving you wondering if there was more background in the book.I've always liked David Straithairn and he gives an easy portrayal of the main character. Mary McDonnell is good as the unjustly convicted murderer's daughter though I could have done without the halting, "don't really care about anything" accent/tone. Definitely worth seeing if you're into the story-type movie.