StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

davetree-1 This came highly recommended by a NYT reviewer, but yikes, before I was 1/2 way through it became real torture. Cast is mainly female--old & young--and they just scream and carry on in jealous nonsense with fortune telling and "voodoo?" thrown in. Samuel Jackson-- who the heck convinced him to play in this mess-- is reduced to a clichéd prop. 1960 Louisiana Bayou?? with blacks constantly in haute bourgeois costume with Connecticut accents is beyond laughable. The latter is cool--if that's what the director wants--but the story is pure soap opera slush! Bayou photography is great, and set against these ridiculous characters it comes as a great relief. The movie just slogs along with a cast of over-dressed harpies, both old and young.

TxMike "Eve's Bayou" is the name of the small settlement along the bayou that former slave Eve gave her name to. The story is told from a young girl's point of view, Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett), who is narrating as an adult. It was filmed in Louisiana, in the bayou areas north of Lake Pontchartrain, north of New Orleans. I particularly like the exposition during the last scene where Eve describes our lives and memories as an intricate tapestry of all of our memories. This movie is about Eve's memories. The movie starts by saying that Eve was 11 years old when she killed her father. We don't find out what she means until the very end. Her father is small time doctor Louis Batiste (Samuel L. Jackson) who mostly makes routine house calls, dispenses aspirin, and flirts with the lonely ladies. He says he loves his wife, he appears to be a good father to his 2 daughters and son, but occasionally strays, and that is what gets him in hot water. Meagan Good is fine as the older sister Cisely Batiste. Lynn Whitfield is also good as the wife and mother Roz Batiste.SPOILERS. When Eve wanders into the storage shed during a party, and falls asleep, she awakens to find her dad and Mrs Mereaux engaged in sexual activity. This scares her, but what really gets her going is when sis tells her that dad made advances towards her, then hit her when she withdrew. Little Eve decided she needed to have her dad dead, goes to voodoo lady Elzora (Diahann Carroll) for a spell. What really gets dad is when Mrs Mereaux's husband shows up and finds him and his wife together at a bar. He tells Loius to never speak to his wife again or he will kill him. Louis smiles and yells 'good night Matty', and the jealous husband shoots and kills him. So, Eve really was responsible, because it was she in an earlier conversation that hinted to Mr Mereaux that her dad and his wife 'both seemed to come home late a lot.' Eve feels bad when she later finds out her sister's story was not true, she had been the one who made an advance by kissing dad as a mistress might, and dad rejected that which made sis mad enough to lie about it.Of interest to me, Branford Marsalis had a small role as friend Harry.

handsonahardbody One of 1997's great films and winner of the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, the American indie opened to wide critical acclaim. Delicate and complex, it's not only a showcase for great acting but also a deeply affecting film about family, loneliness , and the line between right and wrong.Directed by Kasi Lemmons, who's worked mostly as an actress. ''Eve's Bayou'' is inspiring with its look at the resilience of the human spirit and the ways in which truth can clarify, transcend and redeem a broken life. Like Jim Sheridan's ''My Left Foot,'' ''Eve's Bayou'' delivers a full emotional palette without undue sentimentalizing.Although Debbi Morgan and Jurnee Smollet are stunning -- and are the highlights, the rest of the cast is equally powerful -- particularly Lynn Whitfield, Samuel L. Jackson all charming and powerful as Louis, and Meagan Good, rebellious yet complex as Cisely. There would be no great acting if the incredible screenplay weren't in tact. At the very least, Lemmons deserved an original screenplay nod. "Eve's Bayou" currently sits at # 24 in my Top 50 Films of the 90s. It's truly a great film that didn't the recognition it deserved (i.e. Academy Award nominations), so don't let it pass you by -- buy the Special Edition DVD.

bushisaheadcase "Eve's Bayou" is a great, haunting film; it affects us in ways we're not used to...it is capable of both lifting our hearts and chilling us to the bone. Believe me, it is a work of art like no other. Slow-moving, ominous looking, profoundly spiritual film that can hold an audience in absolute thrall.The film switching gears radically, bravely defying conventional wisdom about what it takes to excite moviegoers, Lemmons presents the flip side of a family drama and turns it into a supremely improbable triumph.Not only is this a directorial triumph, but also a strong screen writing debut for Lemmons. She revels in the delicate nuances of the great Louisiana bayou, from the omnipresent waters to the rushing of wind through the trees, while Lemmons' composer, Terrance Blanchard, outdoes himself with a score that's the elegiac equivalent of threshing wheat. Above all, Lemmons treats her characters with near reverence. "Bayou" is filled with brilliant performances (specifically Debbi Morgan, Samuel L. Jackson, and the two leading young actresses). This is my third favorite film of 1997, behind "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Boogie Nights".