Eve's Bayou

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.

A bayou is the Southern U S term for an ox-bow lake, a stretch of stagnant water left behind by a river running through level countryside after it has made a short cut through one of its banks. The characters in this film have been left behind by history in the Bayou country of Louisiana. They are nice, middle-class creole folk going nowhere. Louis Baptiste (Samuel L Jackson) is the local doctor living in a fine frame house with his fragile ex-beauty queen wife and three children including the film's narrator, 10 year old Eve (Jurnee Smollett). Family legend has it that an earlier Baptiste, a French general in the Napoleonic era, had his life saved by a local black slave girl, the ancestral Eve. She married him and had 16 children, thus kick-starting local development. By the early 1960s, in which this movie is set, the Bayou is your archetypal Southern backwater. Louis didn't get that bit at medical school about not screwing your patients and in fact it seems to be an integral part of his practice. His sister Mozelle (Debbie Morgan) is also a therapist of a sort - having the gift (or curse) of second sight she finds lost relatives by exercising her psychic powers. Unfortunately she's hopeless as to her own affairs- her three husbands, all much loved, have all died prematurely.

At the start of the film Eve, in voice over mode, announces " The year I killed my father, I was 10." Then we switch to a party at the Baptise house where Eve discovers her Dad having it off with a patient in the carriage house. He laughs it off, but the seed of doubt is planted, and when there is an incident involving Louis and Eve's older sister Cisely (Meagan Good) the stage is set for tragedy. In fact the movie is not so much about murder as about guilt, the especially keen variety which afflicts someone who injures another he or she adores and is dependent on.

On the way, as the film moves through lush swampy scenery at an appropriately languid pace, we meet the rest of the Baptiste family and Diahann Carroll, enjoying herself as a downmarket sorceress. There's no sign of the racially conscious South - as far as race is concerned we might as well be in the highlands of Scotland. The whole film has a dreamlike quality (Brigadoon?). As Eve explains, her story is about the way memory is formed often as much by imagination as by what actually happened. I seem to remember they told us that in Psych 101 but it is rather more poetically put on this occasion.

The photography is gorgeous and the acting more than proficient. Jurnee Smollett in her first role stands out, but Debbie Morgan as Mozelle the psychic aunt produces a three dimensional character from a part which could easily have been done as caraciature. Samuel L Jackson fills the bill as the charming philanderer Louis.

The film is apparently the first from writer-director Kasi Lemmons, though Samuel L is credited as one of the producers and very likely had a say in the production. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to introduce all the main characters in such a rush at the party in the opening sequence but it's all sorted out in the end. The brief black and white "psychic" sequences fit seamlessly into the rest of the film and somehow one doesn't stop to ask just how Mozelle does it.

At the end of the day, you wonder how a child of 10 could go through what Eve has gone through and not become a gibbering wreck. At the end, she sits on the edge of the Bayou with sister Cisely, contemplating a gorgeous sunset, apparently at peace with the world. Is the atmosphere so thick, so cloying, in the Bayou, that even murder and mayhem are quickly forgotten? It's a beautiful sensuous (and sensual) atmosphere though, and worth sampling.

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 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 is director Kasi Lemmons' first film and she has entered the world of cinema with a very bold start. Eve's Bayou is a very passionate story about life and love with a family surrounded by dark secrets. Lemmons' has boldly introduced us to a world in which magic is obvious and characters are deeply developed. There isn't one actor in this film that you do not fully appreciate. Everyone in this film gives everything that they have to help create this hidden masterpiece. Roger Ebert named this film the best of 1997, and I agree whole-heartedly. What makes this film different from other films of this nature is that Lemmons keeps us grounded. We are constantly reminded of where we are and whom we are dealing with. There is not some outside element trying to sneak in and disrupt the peace; it is a completely internal movie that allows us to devote ourselves to this desperate family. She controls Jackson with the greatest of ease, and gives us one of the most powerful child performances ever. If I had the chance to give the Oscar to Jurnee Smollett for her role of Eve in this film, I would have gladly handed it to her. Her performance commanded the film. She was the strongest and most beautifully developed character in this film. Smollett was outstanding. I have never been so impressed with a child actor as I was with her in this film. Her eyes gave us all the drama that we needed. I never thought that I would witness acting in its purest form come from a child. For anything, this film is worth seeing just for the performance of Smollett. She literally steals the scenes from everyone, even Mr. Jackson.

I mentioned earlier that I loved the fact that this film kept us grounded by continually showing us scenes from the bayou. It kept our minds focused on where we were and the environment that surrounded these troubled people. Amazingly, Lemmons has transformed this setting into more than just a place, she has given it life. Not only through our characters, but it also is the center of most of the magic that occurs. It is a very symbolic reference. A bayou is a creek or a secondary waterway that is a passageway to another larger body of water. In this film, Eve represents the bayou as she travels to her family, the larger body of water. Also, whenever Mozelle calls upon the 'spirits' her first sight is of the bayou. Lemmons may be saying that the bayou is more than just water, it is the center of everyone's universe in this town. Perhaps it has more meanings, but I really felt that Lemmons was using the bayou as more than just a place setting, it spoke to me more about the characters.

Finally, I would like to add that coupled with the amazing acting, Lemmons gives some of the most memorable direction behind the camera. The scenes when Mozelle speaks about how she lost her second husband (the one that loved her the most) because her lover wanted her to himself was riveting. Told through the mirror, this was one of the most interesting ways to tell a flashback. Instead of using the classic 'black and white' or faded lines trick, Lemmons actually brought the scene to us. We witness it firsthand and this allows us to be impacted deeper. I felt the connection, and it worked.

Overall, this was a gem. I wasn't expecting to see such a caliber of acting and direction as I did in this film. The cinematography was outstanding. Lemmons has an eye and a passion for this film, and it is apparent with every scene that she captures. The Batiste family engulfs all of your emotion. Lemmons takes innocent children and captures you within their world, giving you only brief moments to breathe. She shows us the power behind Jackson's voice and the ability he has to expand his career. This was a surprise for me, but a well enjoyed surprise. I suggest you check this film out when time permits. It is a rare find that you will probably see in the bargain bin at any local store. Pick it up and enjoy it. I do not think you will be disappointed.

Grade: **** out of *****