Plus, his decade-long friendship with co-star Cristin Milioti. How did the Eve’s Bayou story come to you? These same emotions take hold whenever I watch Eve’s Bayou, the debut of writer-director Kasi Lemmons, which premiered 20 years ago this month and uses rural Louisiana as the setting of its spellbinding tale about a young black girl’s adolescence. Title: “Eve’s Bayou” Year: 1997. Eve’s Bayou. Sharing parts of me, to relate with and encourage you. Parents need to know that Eve's Bayou is a 1962-set drama directed and written by Kasi Lemmons (Harriet, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam CJ Walker) about a wealthy Louisiana doctor and his family and their secrets. Flora was a Roman goddess of flowers and spring. So much of the film’s weight as a family drama is also subtly telegraphed in Lemmons’s filmmaking. This thread is only visible to paying subscribers of Formerly Dangerous. Edited a trailer for the movie in my advanced editing class The Batiste family is headed by charming doctor Louis. “Eve’s Bayou” is a haunting drama of love, hate, guilt and sorrow, and is surprisingly more complex and powerful than expected. SYNOPSIS: "The story is set in 1962 Louisiana. Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 Images Past/Signs Transformed Chapter 4 History, Memory, & the African American Oral Tradition Chapter 5 Asante Icons in Sankofa Chapter 6 Orisha & Codes in Daughters of the Dust Chapter 7 Mirroring Narrative/Reflecting Past: Eve's Bayou, Tradition, Preservation Chapter 8 Looking Back with Scholarly Eyes Chapter 9 Conclusion Eve's Bayou. Original title Eve's Bayou … Plot Summary: Ten-year-old Eve Batiste lives with her family in a well-to-do black community in 1960s Louisiana. In my mind, Lemmons’s greatest strength is the delicate performances she’s able to draw from her actors. Chopin initially introduces the bayou as a distinct line that cordons off her land from the remainder of the world so that her universe consists of a single hut and an abandoned field. Lynn Whitfield’s performance as Roz is only more evidence that she should have been an A-list star. Morgan’s performance is rightly considered the strongest for how she carefully mines the melodrama of this tale and grants it more gravitas than any of her co-stars. Today’s Hidden Movie Gem guest post comes from Jace Serrano: Title: “Eve’s Bayou”. In some sense, positive cinematic representations of Louisiana’s swamps and bayous can be traced back to Robert J. Flaherty’s 1948 documentary, Louisiana Story. Gaia. Eve’s Bayou, a 1997 film by Kasi Lemmons, displays the meaning of family. 'Eve's Bayou' is an anomaly. One night Louis trysts with married and sexy Metty Mereaux, not knowing that he is observed by his youngest daughter Eve, who is there by accident. We are...” (continue) (continue reading) Seeing her proud and beautiful mother's (Lynn Whitfield) pain over Louis's adultery, Eve is comforted by her 14-year-old sister Cisely (Meagan Good). The snap of peas in the hands of the Creole-speaking grandmother, the grit in the black-and-white imagery of Mozelle and Eve’s visions, the hum of insects, the refined outfits of gold and rust that Roz wears, and the subtle yet gorgeous score by Terence Blanchard create a sumptuous sensory experience. It is a well-made with strong performances, striking cinematography by Amy Vincent, and an unobtrusively dramatic score from Terence Blanchard. She held onto her desire to create Eve’s Bayou even as she faced obstacles finding funding. Drama . Eve Bayou. Eve (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) is the descendant of a slave named Eve, who was a witch and had healing powers. Eve's Bayou is a forgotten gem of American cinema. Eve's discovery unleashes a flood of family secrets and a wave of agony. Kasi Lemmons (born Karen Lemmons; February 24, 1961) is an American film director and actress, most notable for her work on the films Eve's Bayou, The Caveman's Valentine and Talk to Me. They are so close that when Cisely is hurt, her younger sister feels the heartbreak. Eve’s Bayou, directed by Kasi Lemmons. Eve's Bayou has a Southern … That is, there's Eve's Bayou, a municipality, but there's also Eve's bayou, the swampy land where our little Eve wanders around over the course of this very eventful summer in the early 1960s. Relevance. She was described by film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon as "an ongoing testament to … It’s also a remarkably textural experience. And of course, Morgan is the standout. Eve's Bayou opens with establishing history. The Library #5: EVE'S BAYOU A gorgeous piece about memory and family haunts us today In 1962, Eve Batiste (Smollett), named for the founder of their hometown, is the middle child in one of Louisiana's most sophisticated and prosperous … The summer I killed my father, I was ten years old…" The moment the narrator speaks these words, our curiosity is piqued, and, for the next 100 minutes, our attention is engaged as we ponder their significance. While Eve’s Bayou is a distinctly black film for its evocation of Louisiana culture, it doesn’t take interest in discussions of racism or overt political machinations, instead rooting itself in the experiences that occur between black people of this milieu. Her eyes brim with passion and sorrow, her voice is world-weary yet sultry. Also, whenever Mozelle calls upon the 'spirits' her first sight is of the bayou. Louis’ role in the film includes fathering three children: Eve, Cicely, and Poe; also Louis is the husband of Roz Batiste. The film has the rhythm of myth and the visual splendor of a Romanticism-era painting, playing with light and color with such audaciousness, it is amazing it was made on a relatively small budget. Though he is married to beautiful Roz, he has a weakness for attractive female patients. True to form, Byron finds a way to add a scary new twist to Hazel’s already scary predicament. Louis … Answer Save. It rewards the patient viewer, and it also lets the audience decide what memories they choose to take away from the film. Her sister, Cisely, is 14 and her brother, Poe, is 9. From that point the story moves backward in time and memory to Louisiana in 1962, when a young girl named Eve (Jurnee Smollett) witnesses a shocking act on the part of her womanizing father (Samuel L. Jackson). It’s evident she went to school for cinematography given the care found in every frame of the film. Eve’s Bayou, a 1997 film by Kasi Lemmons, displays the meaning of family. At its core, Eve’s Bayou is the story of Eve (Jurnee Smollett), a 10-year-old middle child in a prosperous family, nestled in a Creole community in 1960s rural Louisiana. When Jackson came onboard as a star and producer, the film finally became a reality. Tony Shalhoub Answers Every Question We Have About. But what really happened? In 2016, I had the pleasure of watching a 35mm director’s cut at Ebertfest in Champaign, Illinois, with Kasi Lemmons in the audience. Director: Kasi Lemmons. Eve’s Bayou, Drylongso, and Other Black Films to Watch Right Now. Apr 23, 2016 #2. Action. The scene that encapsulates the wonder of Eve’s Bayou comes about halfway through the film. Eve Batiste is constantly abused and belittled by her father Louis Batiste. What did little Eve see--and how will it haunt her? A young girl learns some difficult lessons about truth, love, and fidelity in this critically-acclaimed Southern gothic drama. Eve’s coming-of-age is undergirded by the sense that she’s realizing the mortality and tragedies of her parents. Eve’s Bayou, a 1997 film by Kasi Lemmons, displays the meaning of family. It was said that when General John Paul Batiste was stricken with cholera, his life was saved by the powerful medicine of an African slave woman called Eve. The family is an African American family that benefits from it’s middle class standing and also it’s ties to important public figures that shaped the place they live in. “For the viewer, it is a reminder that sometimes films can venture into the realms of poetry and dreams,” he wrote in his original review. Though he is married to beautiful Roz, he has a weakness for attractive female patients. The rich cinematography by Amy Vincent, careful costume design by Karyn Wagner, and evocative editing by Terilyn A. Shropshire create a marvelous tableau of rural Louisiana life in the 1960s. In this film, there is no mention of the political climate of the times.”. Eve looks to two witches, one good, her aunt Mozelle (Morgan), and one bad, Elzora (Carroll), to heal the family's wounds. All rights reserved. However, Cisely, who has a very affectionate relationship with her father, convinces Eve … The camerawork is astounding, adding to the touches of the fantastical that snake their way through the film. The 1997 film Eve’s Bayou was written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, and is a story of love, death and coming of age (Credit: Lionsgate) Ava DuVernay has … Writer and director Kasi Lemmons has fashioned a spooky drama about the bonds between women and the explosive emotions which can be set off by family problems. The narrator is ten-year-old Eve (Jurnee Smollett) whose initiation into the adult world of sexuality, fear, love, and hate is both startling and mysterious. While Samuel L. 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