At first glance, "Small Town Murder Songs" looks like just another one of a thousand murder mysteries. A bar dancer is killed. The police investigate. And suddenly a small Mennonite community in southern Ontario is badly shaken.

But there's more to this gothic drama starring Jill Hennessy than meets the eye.

"There's this beautiful, spare melancholy at work here and lots of tense, brooding silence. That's tough to do well. Frankly, not many directors today would even try," Hennessy tells CTV.ca.

That fear does not apply to 33-year-old Ed Gass-Donnelly, the Canadian filmmaker included on Variety's "10 Directors to Watch" list for 2011 after the film's debut at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.

Gass-Donnelly wrote this stylish, "Insomnia"-like crime drama which costars Peter Stormare, Martha Plimpton and the late Jackie Burroughs in her last film role.

The story revolves around Walter, the town's middle-aged police chief (Stormare).

Despite his Mennonite upbringing, this officer has a violent temper and an unsavoury past that the devout townsfolk and his family can't forgive.

That includes Rita (Hennessy), a scandalous drug addict who was once Walter's lover.

"On the surface, this woman is just horrible. But I understood her torment," says Hennessy.

"She drinks too much, uses too much and knows way too many men. But within that was someone struggling to live as a secular person in a Mennonite community. That struggle grabbed me," she says.

As the murder investigation develops, all these dark forces escalate around Walter, as does the film's explosive soundtrack by the Canadian indie band Bruce Peninsula.

"Ed strips down everything here until things get very raw," says Hennessy.

Movies, music on Hennessy's radar

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Hennessy came to Toronto at 17 to launch her music career. Those plans changed after she landed a role in the 1990 Broadway musical, "Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story."

Hennessy went on to find international stardom as district attorney Claire Kincaid on "Law & Order" (1993 – 1996) and medical examiner Jordan Cavanaugh on "Crossing Jordan" (2001 – 2007).

"I love singing and acting. Juggling things hasn't slowed me down too much yet," said Hennessy, who launched her debut album, "Ghost In My Head," in August of 2010.

Written between 2005 and 2007, when Hennessy was shooting the final years of "Crossing Jordan," the smoky, folk-rock album included such guest artists as R.E.M.'s Mike Mills and the Dixie Chicks' Martie Maguire.

The actress is currently working on the 2011 HBO horse-racing series, "Luck." The series co-stars Dustin Hoffman and is directed by Michael Mann.

"When I look back on my career, I think a lot about Toronto and those days when I played music on street corners and worried about how I'd pay the rent," says Hennessy.

"I don't know how any of all this will play out in the years to come. But if it should all end tomorrow, I'll grab my two kids, my husband and my guitar and head to Rome to play in the Piazza Navona for dinner money. I won't chase fame," she says.

"Working for a goal like that would just be too depressing."