Eve's Bayou
A young girl learns some difficult lessons about truth, love, and fidelity in this critically-acclaimed Southern gothic drama. Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett) is a ten-year-old girl whose father Louis (Samuel L. Jackson) is a successful and well-liked doctor in an African-American community in Louisiana. Louis is a good father and an excellent provider, but he also has a way of attracting the ladies, and he's not inclined to turn them away. One night, the Batistes hold a party, and Eve, her older sister Cisely (Meagan Good), and their mother Roz (Lynn Whitfield) all notice that Louis is spending a great deal of time dancing with the same woman. Eve later spies her father and the woman in an embrace in the carriage house, though Louis unconvincingly claims that nothing untoward was happening. The evidence of Louis' infidelity takes a toll on the entire family: Cisely, who at age 14 is walking the middle-ground between being a girl and a woman, becomes sullen and confused about her new emotions, Roz takes out her frustrations on her loved ones, and Eve visits Elzora (Diahann Carroll), a voodoo priestess, looking for advice and possibly revenge. Meanwhile, Eve's Aunt Mozelle (Debbi Morgan), who claims to have psychic powers, arrives to stay with the family after the death of her third husband, though she isn't lonely for long after meeting the eccentric Julien Greyraven (Vondie Curtis-Hall). Eve's Bayou was the first project as writer-director for actress Kasi Lemmons; leading man Samuel L. Jackson also co-produced. more..
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Starring: Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan
Lemmons' command of cinematic style, her appreciation of the chimerical aspects of life and her ability to inspire actors to give remarkably faceted portrayals mark Eve's Bayou a first film of exceptional promise.
All of these moments unfold in a film of astonishing maturity and confidence; Eve's Bayou, one of the very best films of the year, is the debut of its writer and director, Kasi Lemmons.
But the notable accomplishment of actress-writer Kasi Lemmons ("The Silence of the Lambs") in her feature directorial debut is in creating a landscape quite beautiful and entirely her own -- a fluid, feminine, African-American, Southern gothic narrative that covers a tremendous amount of emotional territory with the lightest and most graceful of steps.
Louisiana's delta country has never looked more darkly, lusciously sensual than it does in Eve's Bayou, a Southern gothic soap opera, written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, that transcends the genre through the sheer rumbling force of its characters' passions.
Eve's Bayou is a movie unto itself, a rousing, original yarn about family life that includes everyone, whether they're from Louisiana or miles away.
Best Actor
Acapulco Black Film Festival (1998)
Best Child Performance
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (1998)
Best Supporting Actress
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1998)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture
Image Awards (1998)
Best First Feature
Independent Spirit Awards (1998)
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