Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 54

PAGE E6 STAR TRIBUNE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7 1997 'Eve's Bayou' probes approaches to tru MOVIES sth GRAND OPENING The United States Army invites you to visit your local Army Recruiter at the grand opening of the new Army Recruiting office. CALL 3760056 By Rosalind Bentley Star Tribune Staff Writer "Tlie truth clianges color depending on the light." The narrator of "Eve's Bayou." In a family setting those sometimes imperceptible changes in appearance can be at once devastating and liber Jl Lynn Whitfield portrays a long-suffering wife and, from (eft, Meagan Good, Jake Smollet and Jurnee Smollet play her children. Photo provided by Trim ark Pictures Eve's Bayou Out of a possible five stars Starring: Samuel Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Mea-gan Good and Jurnee Smollet. Director: Kasi Lemmons. Review: A graceful, sophisticated and ethereal family drama told through the eyes of the 10-year-old middle child.

The story is set in 1950s Louisiana bayou country, which is steeped in voodoo and Creole traditions. The drama involves a philandering father, a long-suffering mother, a daughter on the cusp of womanhood and and aunt with the gift of prophecy. Nothing is as it seems. Rating: violence, profanity, sex. Where: Lagoon, Brookdale Square, Galtier, Mall of America, Pavilion and Yorktown.

ating. Is a father merely a philanderer or a man searching in the Movie review NOW IN DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLIS 212 3rd AVE. GRAND OPENING 12th NOV. UNTIL 6P.M. SPECIAL OFFERS FOR HS STUDENTS AND GRADS 8 wrong places to bolster his ego? Is a wife long-suffering out of duty or fear? Can a child on the cusp of womanhood understand that boundaries change? But most of all, can death be manifested by sheer will, or does fate need no help? These are the questions asked by the graceful, sophisticated and ethereal drama "Eve's Bayou." It is the effort of first time director Kasi Lemmons.

Lemmons, who appeared in "Silence of the Lambs," has created a subtly complex family drama set in 1950s Louisiana bayou country, a region steeped in Creole traditions and voodoo religion. And the depth of ther and doctor in a little Louisiana town. But he cheats on his wife with his own brand of house calls. Everyone in the family knows but does not see, except Eve. Still, she wants her father to be her hero.

"Daddy, how come you never dance with me?" she asks him tearfully one night during a party. Young Jurnee Smollet plays the role powerfully. In the eyes of Cisely, the oldest daughter middle child Eve Batiste tell us, "the summer I was 10 years old I killed my father." Well, did she? Of course, that is the mystery. But it is the way Lemmons unravels it, with lush and inventive storytelling devices, that makes this tale so compelling. The Batiste family is very real.

Imperfect, loving, strained. Louis Batiste, played by Samuel Jackson, is trying to be a husband, fa C2 ALL YOU CAN BE! each audience member's belief in the power of unseen forces will affect the way they see the unfolding story and its outcome. In the opening scenes we hear the adult voice of narrator and played by Meagan Good, dad is a hero. She is his favorite, much to Eve's disappointment. Lynn Whitfield plays the long-suffering wife, happy to have a lovely home with four bathrooms, but who must deal with the tormenting calls of her husband's lovers and the stress of three children.

But the stand-out in the film is actress Debbi Morgan. Daytime soap opera addicts probably remember her in the role of Angie in "All My Children," She portrays Mozelle, Louis' sister, a "psychic counselor," or as old Southern people used to say, a root woman. She has the gift of seeing the future of others, delivering bittersweet news of what's to come, with an empathy that makes us believe it truly hurts her to tell them these visions. "Most people's lives are a great disappointment to them," she says. Indeed, outwardly, it is a beautiful family.

This film provides some of the most elegant images of blacks of that era that we've seen in quite some time. And the lush shots of the back country by director of photography Amy Vincent are reminiscent of scenes from "Passion Fish." Lemmons also does a stunning job of relaying a memory to us. She places the characters right back into the scene playing in their mind's eye. They narrate it as they witness it, blow by blow. But as we see, things aren't always what they appear to be.

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