Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

jcbinok Seeing page after page of 10 star reviews of Eve's Bayou, I felt compelled to add my $.02. Just watched this film last night, and generally thought is was very good. The filmmakers stuck with and developed the characters well. The opening party scene was a bit of a mish-mash of faces, so it took a while to suss out who was who, but as the film went on, that got worked out.Before writing a few criticisms, let me say that one thing I liked about the film was that it refrained from becoming a 'white/bad, black/good' story. In fact, I don't recall a single white face throughout, nor any dialog about race relations. That was refreshing.Now, what I didn't like. First: what the heck was with the wardrobes and make-up? Not only during the original party scene, but throughout the entire movie, the women are dressed up like they're going to a photo shoot or prom. Totally unrealistic/overly glam. Next: the hokiness of some of the dialog. After the family tragedy, for example, rather than hug Eve and let her cry, Aunt Mozel relates some abstract dream she just had. Ugh. The kid's 10, she just lost her father, and you're telling parables?Finally: I hated the ending. The father's letter reveals that he may have been innocent of his older daughter's accusation that he made a sexual advance toward her. When confronted by Eve, the best the older daughter can come up with is, "I can't remember." Are you kidding me? The sisters then dunk the father's letter in the swamp, forever to be unseen by its intended recipient, Mozel.Overall, good movie. Perfect? no.

billcr12 Kasi Lemmons wrote and directed "Eve's Bayou," with such precision that I'm astounded that she hasn't had anything as good since this feature. Orson Welles is still famous for "Citizen Kane" after which he never reached such heights again.Samuel L. Jackson is a doctor who has a monogamy problem, constantly cheating on his wife, played by Lynn Whitfield. They have two daughters, Eve of the title, Jurnee Smollett is awesome as the lead character of this story and her sister Cisely(Meagan Good) is also a charming child actress. The two worship their father but they eventually discover his shortcomings as a husband.The two young sisters steal this film, an absorbing, tragic family drama of Shakespearean proportions. Lemmons has created a memorable classic.

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).

girlkeepscomingloose "Eve's Bayou" perfectly captures the melancholia that sometimes settles on a body like the gloaming, when the dying light seems profoundly sad and yet magical. Based on the short film "Dr. Hugo" (available on the DVD), this is a gem in the debut film making crown for writer/director Kasi Lemmons. Lemmons, with customary nuance and visual brilliance, crumbles the upper crust while breaking hearts with this poignant portrait of the Batiste, a wealthy African American family dwelling on a beautiful/haunting Louisiana bayou.While virtually every scene resonates with longing, there is one that is a masterpiece of unspoken words -- and somehow calls up visions of Ingmar Bergman's great family dramas. Debbi Morgan and young Jurnee Smollet -- who provide outstanding performances -- are supported by a host of deft players, and the detailed re-creation of this small universe is in all ways remarkable.