thesewintersundays Writer/director Kasi Lemmons and her outstanding cast have outdone themselves in the sublime "Eve's Bayou." "Eve's Bayou" is fleet but not in a hurry. The scenes are clear and lean against the richness of the setting, but they flow leisurely toward the climax, like a punt bearing two lovers languidly downstream."Eve's Bayou" is such a great story, partly because Lemmons herself is a master storyteller who is particularly gifted at strong endings, partly because the splendid cast embodies the characters so fully that the events actually seem to be happening to them, instead of unfolding from a screenplay.What a beautiful film it is: Not an overdecorated "period" portrait, but a film in which the people move easily through town and country homes and landscapes which frame and define them.

eyeofmyangels Kasi Lemmons has invigorated and enriched her debut film, "Eve's Bayou", through the use of a thousand details, a strong sense of time and place, outstanding characterizations and a display of energy and cinematic flair that marks an advance on any other film released in 1997. Lemmons works with such piercing fervor and intelligence that "Eve's Bayou" just about transcends its tidy moral design."Eve's Bayou" is as good a compromise of fact and fiction as you could hope for -- and still call it a movie. Lemmons directed this with a single-mindedness and attention to detail that makes it riveting. She doesn't make the mistake of adding cornball little subplots to popularize the material; she knows she has a great story, and she tells it with such realism that feels like we're apart of the Batiste family. This is a powerful story, one of 1997's best films, told with great clarity and acted like a finely tuned powerful fire(bravo Debbi Morgan).

overthehillsomewhere "Eve's Bayou" is perfect down to the last detail, but lovers of popcorn movies may pass "Eve's Bayou" without notice. The film is, against all odds, hopeful even while quietly stirring outrage. It's a deceptively passive movie that quietly moves mountains behind the scenes. Under the skillful hand of writer-director Kasi Lemmons, layers are revealed -- the pain of loss, the wrath of secrets , the je ne sais quoi of contented family life -- all while building up to a shattering conclusion, Lemmons' movie is both outrageously schematic and powerfully humanist. "Eve's Bayou" is a marvel of character-driven drama that no serious film-goer should miss.

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".