Writer/Director: Kasi Lemmons
Cinematographer: Amy Vincent
Dr Louis Batiste: Samuel L Jackson
Roz Batiste: Lynn Whitfield
Aunt Mozelle: Debbi Morgan
Eve Batiste: Jurnee Smollett
Cisely Batiste: Megan Good |
I really wanted to like this film. After all it stars Samuel L Jackson, an actor who has real presence on the screen - remember "Pulp Fiction" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight".
It's set in Louisiana - the name itself conjures up images of steamy heat - actual and sexual - in an almost fairytale landscape where Spanish moss festoons the trees and voodoo hovers in the darkness. A place full of passion and mystery enlivened by the mix of French and Black culture and tradition.
Sadly I came away feeling that the film had eluded me. I'd never quite been drawn into its Gothic world. The story of a Southern black family told from the perspective of the 10 year old daughter, Eve (Jurnee Smollett), a descendant of slaves and named for her ancestor who had won her freedom by saving the life of her master and then bearing him 16 children. It is through Eve's eyes that we are given an account of the events of one summer - the parties, the sibling rivalries, the marital infidelities, all coincide with the sexual awakening of the young women of the family. And death throws its shadow over all.
This is a film about memory and perception - "Memory is a selection of images. Some elusive, others printed indelibly on the brain. The summer I killed my father, I was ten years old ..." Eve Batiste tells us in the opening sequence. Its characters are elusive, never quite all that they seem.
Jackson has real presence and charm as the philandering Dr Louis Batiste. You can't help but like him despite. Debbi Morgan, in her big screen debut, is equally strong as Batiste's sister, Eve's Aunt Mozelle. Jurnee Smollett is endearing as Eve, managing to be both knowing and innocent, but somehow not strong enough to hold all the threads together as I would have wished.
Visually the film wasn't as lush as I had hoped. For me Clint Eastwood in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" was far more successful in capturing the saturated atmosphere that I associate with the South. But this is an independent film and no doubt lacked the big budget Eastwood can command. In "Eve's Bayou" the most striking images were the sketchy black and white dream sequences which foreshadowed future events - Eve inherits her Aunt Mozelle's ability to see into the future.
"Eve's Bayou" is in the tradition of Southern Gothic storytelling. It is an intriguing and elusive film.
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