Delia’s Gone Movie Review

“Delia’s Gone” is drama about a developmentally disabled man who is accused of a murder, and then later finds out the truth of his sister’s death. He was framed and wants to get back at the people who were culpable. It is a bit like “Rain Man” or “Forrest Gump” conducting a criminal investigation to clear their name. He might be a little slow, but he is able to uncover the truth.

Louis (played by Stephan James) lives with his sister Delia (played by Genelle Williams) in a very rural area of Ohio. Their parents are dead and now they only have each other. Louis has some form of mental disability (which is never really identified). He functions at a high level, but cannot stand change in his routine.

Delia has lost her job, and she tells him she needs to move to Toledo. Louis has a violent reaction, but Delia is able to calm his down. She leaves to go drinking at the local tavern. Louis does not drink, because when he does, he can lose control of his anger. But after Delia leaves, he drinks quite a bit. Next morning, he wakes up and finds Delia dead in house. He looks like there was a big fight in the house.

Delia was short on money and stole a bunch of meds from the pharmacy. The local Sheriff named Fran Cole (played by Marisa Tomei) and her Deputy named Bo (played by Paul Walter Hauser) some out the house to investigate the robbery at the pharmacy. They find Delia dead, and Louis covered in blood. Louis does not remember anything about the prior night.

Louis is arrested and convicted. He spends five years in jail, and is now living at a halfway house. One day he has a visitor. It is Stacker Cole (played Travis Fimmel). He is Fran’s brother.  He tells Louis that he knows what really happened to Delia. There is a confrontation, and Louis finds a way to leave the halfway house. He is determined to get back to his hometown and solve the mystery.

Louis is out on the road, in his father’s old pickup – after his gets back to boarded up house. Stacker had mentioned a couple of names of people who where at the tavern that, night. Even with his limited understanding of how things work in the world, Louis is able to follow up on some leads. He is not exactly Sherlock Holmes, but he is able to track down two brothers. Billy (played by Graham Abbey) was a big drinker before, but now he has turned his life around and become a pastor.

He learns from Billy that on the night Delia died, he was drinking with her at the tavern. Stacker was there, and also Billy’s brother Lyle (played by Billy MacLellan). Louis has a bad run-in with Bill and is now on the run. Lyle is difficult to find, but Louis turns on his best Hercule Poirot and tracks him down. He also has a bad run-in with Lyle.  Louis also is able to get some chicken wings in the process.

Current Sheriff Bo reluctantly partners with now State Police Detective Fran Cole. They search for Louis together. There is a lot of resentment over how Fran treated Bo in the past, and that still happens today. Fran has some shady dealings and Bo know that she is hiding something about what happened that night. After all, Fran was protective of her brother Stacker. If there is something about the truth of that night, Stacker and Fran are going know all about it.

“Delia’s Gone” is a straightforward mystery of how an intellectually stunted man is able to get past his difficulties and discover the truth. Stephan James does a very good job in showing the mannerisms and speech patterns of a man with problems. He is persistent and does not stop when faced with obstacles. Marisa Tomei and Paul Walter Hauser have characters that are not developed very well. Most of their dialog is bickering between them.

“Delia’s Gone” does its best to come up with an interesting story line. But the major points, when taken as a whole, just fail to come together. The acting is decent, and Stephan James treads a find line between getting the character just right, and almost overplaying it.