Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Steineded How sad is this?

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

evehands which i am embarrassed to admit we only went to see because of the coincidence of the name!! But this absurd 'excuse' to see a film we'd heard nothing about (no publicity or marketing - just an option among several others at our local multiplex cinema, lured in by a beautiful poster which it turned out proved to be a foretaste of a gorgeously shot movie) paid off richly. We are seldom impressed as we were with 'Eve's Bayou'; this layering of memories, filtered through the perceptions of three distinctly different women, was such an intelligent and suspenseful use of the much-abused medium of film, that I thought about and remembered it yesterday after 11 years (!) and decided to rent it again; I am confident I will like it just as much on second viewing. Now that i know it was a low budget first outing for the (female) director (whose DP was likewise female - something which is STILL an anomaly, even today, where commercially released features are concerned), I am simply blown away....Roger Ebert is absolutely right; the fact that this was not nominated for an Academy Award means they were simply not paying attention; for shame! It ought to have been a runaway success, and at very least nominated for Best Director, Best Supporting Actress(es), Best DP, Best Costumes, Best Screenplay. Unfortunately, Kasi Lemmons' follow- up to this (the gruesomely dark 'Valentine' something-or-other) was nowhere near as accomplished as this (though it was still good, by any movie standards). Perhaps she lost heart after being so overlooked? (and if so, who could blame her?!). I hope this film gets a re-release and much belated marketing 'push', with a perhaps more prominent placing at the local DVD stores, at least (I'm having to order my rented copy in 'cause it's not in the store...)!

prop03 This film is now showing on cable here in Australia, and is a far better than average offering.Written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, the film is a powerful family drama set in the sixties in the south of the USA. It stars Samuel L Jackson as a small town doctor with a wandering eye. The story is told from the viewpoint of his middle child, Eve, wonderfully played by Jurnee Smollett, who sees her middle-class family life threatened by her father's infidelities.No tale set in a bayou village could exist without references to black magic and voodoo, and this film also has them as a rather central part of the plot. But these elements are handled skilfully and believably, and heighten the tension that develops.One of the interesting tools used by Lemmons is to tell and retell a story from different characters' perspectives, asking the viewer to determine which is more truthful, and indeed, whether the truth is paramount.Jackson gives a sparkling performance as Dr Louis Batiste, a man of warmth and generosity who is well regarded by the local community that he serves. His family is seemingly a happy and close one, until the children begin to question some of the adult behaviour they witness.Jurnee Smollett's Eve is the main protagonist around whom much of the story is centred, and she effortlessly moves back and forth between being a precocious brat and a young woman with powerful emotions. The rest of the cast is also very good, including a voluptuous Lisa Nicole Carson as the temptress Mattie Mereaux, and Diahann Carroll as a bayou witch.This film moves along at a good pace and is a little more than you might expect.

throughtheyellowgate Kasi Lemmons ''Eve's Bayou,'' is an elegant and deeply disquieting drama that became 1997's highest grossing independent film. The tenuous bonds that hold the Batiste, a highly accomplished African-American family, together have finally come undone. Spouses cheat; secrets are held -- lies are told ; parents and children share households but have no common ground.Beautifully acted as it is, "Eve's Bayou" still elects to keep its characters and their emotions at a distance. They remain as hidden from the viewer as they are from one another, which is an essential part of the film's disturbing power. Mrs. Lemmons daringly chooses to keep her story's motivational mysteries unexplained, leaving this richly observed film open to the viewer's assessments. Yet the sense of imbalance is ever-present and strong. Films like "Eve's Bayou" are not easily summarized; they don't have that slick "high concept" one-sentence peg that makes them easy to sell. Maybe all I've said still leaves you wondering what the movie is about. But some of the best movies are like this: They show everyday life, carefully observed, and as we grow to know the people in the film, maybe we find out something about ourselves. The fact that Lemmons is able to combine these qualities with turmoil, loneliness and even tragedy make the movie very rare.

fromthedreamfactory The biggest snub at the 1997 Academy Awards was Kasi Lemmons in the Best Original Screenplay category. Her screenplay for Eve's Bayou was easily one of the best scripts of that year. So good in fact, that the less informed members of the Academy may well have thought that Lemmons adapted it from a novel. The film opens with an adult woman voice-overing the line, "I was nine years old the summer I killed my father." With this revelation starts Eve's Bayou, a slow paced drama about an upper middle class African-American family in Louisiana. The story is told through the eyes of Eve, played by Jurnee Smollet. She is the middle of three children with an older sister and a younger brother. Samuel L. Jackson (who also produced the film) and Lynn Whitfield are the parents and Debbi Morgan plays Jackson's somewhat unstable sister.On the night of a party at their house, Eve finds her father in an amorous encounter with another woman. Eve then begins to question why her doctor father is always summoned for house calls to female patients at all times of the day and night. Eve's subtle innuendos about her father's extramarital affairs cause a rift between Eve, her sister, her mother, and her aunt. All the women know what is happening, however, each has their own way of dealing with reality.Eve decides that she has to stop her father's philandering so she enlists the help of a local fortune teller to use voodoo on him. Eve's aunt is also a fortune teller, but wants no part of her plan. Eventually, Eve realizes that she still loves her father and attempts to stop the so-called spell before it works.Eve's Bayou is the first feature film for writer-director Lemmons, previously best known for her acting work. In one of the most impressive debuts in recent years, Lemmons' work is very comparable with John Sayles, the best independent filmmaker working today. Lemmons' writing is extremely novelistic with attention to rich characterizations and dense story lines. Like Sayles, she also has a soft fluid touch as a director.Lemmons also shows that her time spent in front of the camera has helped get superb performances from her entire cast. It is rare that a child actor can carry any film, let alone a drama, as well as Jurnee Smollett does. Her performance is on par with Anna Paquin's in The Piano for capturing adolescent sensitivity. Samuel L. Jackson does a nice turn as the philandering doctor who is so charming and flawed. Actress Debbi Morgan is also award-worthy. As one of the most successful independent films of any year it is a wonder that Eve's Bayou was not nominated for any Academy Awards. Watching this tremendously well-written and acted film, it's easy to see why the African-American community feels woefully under-represented on Oscar night in Hollywood.