Eve's Bayou

The first time I saw this film I rated it 8; the 2nd time it got a 9. There is much visual beauty in the film: a lovely, serene setting and many gorgeous women. The film focussed on the devastation caused by a father who could not resist beautiful women even though he loved his family. As the film ended, I was left counting the number of people who would have considerable guilt to deal with but the end was, nevertheless, very satisfying.

I had never heard of this film when my wife ordered it from NetFlix, and I keep wondering why. This is a terrific flick. Jurnee Smollett as Eve is truly excellent, and not just "good for a kid," or "good but annoyingly precocious," she is just plain good. The story is wonderful, and I love the fact that the race of the characters is hardly mentioned. It's a story about people, and it doesn't matter on what continent their ancestors originated. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Samuel Jackson (one of the film industry's most versatile actors), and Debbi Morgan. Small parts portrayed by Branford Marsalis and Vondie Curtis Hall are very nicely done, and add color to the background of friends and relatives of the Batiste family. I enjoy the way the film shows us the world of psychic perception and Voodoo, and the degree to which belief in them can affect behavior. The location filming is wonderfully evocative of the steaming south, and the direction spot-on. I recommend this film.

You know how you get when you're deeply into a novel and you can't stop turning the pages... then take a bathroom break before you start watching this movie. Only of course you have to just deal with the pace of the movie which is great in this case and leaves not one dull moment.

I think this was one of the best movies of 1997 and should have received more recognition. I look forward to what Kasi Lemmons does next.

I love to discover that a film which I have never heard of turns out to be a gem, especially when it makes you think. Mind candy it is not.

I came across this film in the budget DVD section of one of the chain stores when I was buying a bunch of films that I had never heard of to watch when it got too hot in summer to move outside. After it had lain around for several months, I finally got around to watching it, and it just blew me away!

This film held my attention from the opening scene. To begin with, it was set in a completely different world - Louisiana, which may be an American state, but is still "foreign". The film contained elements of mystery, family life, and infidelity in an exotic mix spiced with voodoo. The story centered around an upper middle class creole family, descended from a Frenchman and a freed African slave, who bore her liberator 16 children!

The film began with a party at the elegant home of the Doctor, Louis, the father of the child Eve and philandering husband of Roz. The family included Louis' mother and sister, who had the gift of second sight and who "was not unfamiliar with the inside of a mental hospital." From that party, events unfolded, the significance of which depended on the perception of the participant. Eventually tragedy strikes, but was it provoked or did he have it coming?

Not only was the setting and story oh so different, the performances were excellent, including the small cameo roles, and the background music just so haunting that I agree with all those reviewers who found it to be one of the best films ever.

I would just love to see what this group would do with an all black version of "Streetcar named Desire."

This was a delightfully good movie. Set in the Louisiana bayou country in the 60's, it is a wonderful story of a well-to-do black family caught up in family tensions that drive the plot but never overpower the family's love for each other. Infidelity, an over-protective mother, the psychic aunt's tragic loss of loves and a delicious dose of voodoo all make this a good watch. The child actress, Jurnee Smollett as Eve, delivers a beautiful performance with talent far beyond her years. Debbie Morgan is terrific as the fortune-telling wise, but cursed-in -love Aunt Mozelle.

Lynn Whitfield and Samuel L. Jackson are also superb as the parents whose complex and troubled relationship's problems spill over onto the children, especially the two daughters, Eve and Cisely. Cisely sees herself as a buffer comforting her father and trying to protect him from her mother whom Cisely sees as a rival for her father's affections. Eve bounces around amidst the angst of being a middle child and the desire to understand the adults' world. This definitely a movie to see. It's a shame that jewels like this get overlooked in the usual Hollywood hype machine.