Eve's Bayou (1997)

EVE'S BAYOU is also a period piece, set in 1960's Louisiana, about 
a ten year-old girl (the adorable Jurnee Smollett) who discovers 
her father's adultery and must deal with that knowledge-- and the 
accompanying stresses affecting the entire family-- over the course 
of a single summer.  Though a couple plot points ring false and 
Debbi Morgan's performance, as the young girl's psychic-consulting 
aunt, struck me as too intense, this is an accomplished, affecting 
first film from writer/director Kasi Lemmons.  I just wish she'd 
opened up the visuals a bit more.  In particular, I wondered where 
the locations were, in relation to each other.  Did the family live 
in town?  Or at the edge of a swamp?  And how far was the road from 
the house??  With Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Meagan Good, 
Diahann Carroll, Jake Smollett, Lisa Nicole Carson, and the film-
maker's hubby, Vondie Curtis Hall.  (Rated "R"/109 min.)

Grade: B

Copyright 1997 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros