Midnight Bayou

The most annoying aspect to reincarnation is switching over all of your identification.

Unfortunately, the returning soul in this made-for-TV-movie has to change more than just his name.

Despite his Eastern education, Boston lawyer Declan (Jerry O'Connell) is drawn to New Orleans and purchases a plantation to renovate.

Around town he meets a local, Lena (Lauren Stamile),whom he is inexplicably attracted to.

As the renovations continue, the mansion's history unravels its self to Declan via vivid flashbacks of a former female resident's murder.

Desperate for answers, he seeks the wisdom of Lena's grandmother (Faye Dunaway),a voodoo priestess with past life experience.

However, the spiritual truth that Declan seeks will change his life forever.

A more mystical love story than what Nora Roberts is known for, this adaptation of her novel muddles in mediocre acting but surprises in the shock-ending department.

Incidentally, when you're reincarnated in Louisiana, 9 times out of 10 you come back as a crayfish.

Yellow Light

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Young college student from Boston, Jerry O'Connell out on some hijinks with friends in New Orleans comes across an old deserted mansion and sees the ghost of a woman there. He feels a real connection to her and the house. Years later, now an attorney, O'Connell moves to the area to start a law practice aimed at making insurance companies cough up what they owe flood victims. But it's more than business that Jerry's got on his mind.

He buys the old mansion and has plans to renovate and move in. But he sees some startling visions of the past around the turn of the last century. He makes a connection with Lauren Stamile who also has a connection to the house. She's the great great granddaughter of the woman that Jerry finds out was murdered.

Midnight Bayou is based on a Nora Roberts romance novel of the same name, though its characters could have been taken from the works of Tennessee Williams. Faye Dunaway plays the grandmother of Stamile who raised her and she's fine in the part. The really evil one is the prostitute/junkie of a mother Marcelle Baer to Stamile. She is a bad person in the past and present.

The film is a cut above most of the Lifetime network productions and recommended for devotees of Nora Roberts.

I just finished watching Midnight Bayou and was very pleasantly surprised. I very thoroughly enjoyed the characters of Lina and her Grandmother Odette, the supernatural twist, although fairly predictable, was still intense to watch - and of course the Louisiana Bayou backdrop. There are two time lines playing out in this movie, and I felt it was done in the least confusing way possible, as you can very easily see the difference in decor and dress of each time line. What would have made this a bit more enjoyable for me would have been a bit of character development in the past time line, as well as a bit more romance in both time lines. But that isn't really the focus of this, it's about soul mates reaching across time and finding peace - it's about something deeper than romance. Jerry O'Connell doesn't do it for me as a romantic lead - he's got far too much comedy about his demeanour, however the character playing Lina was extremely sexy, sultry and sassy - just the kind of woman you'd picture out in the steamy bayou's of Louisiana - she did a terrific job with her character. My last thought to any potential viewers is to not expect Notebook quality romance, this is a TV Movie, and I say that with no malice intended - it should just be appreciated for what it is, and for the story it tells. You'll get romance, a bit of humour, suspense, history and a few thrills - Enjoy!