Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 70

nynHJII.immMIIUjwjlii.ujjj. ihl.ii An Evening With PAT MET "rv i.y GROUP featuring Lyle Mays, Steve Rodby, Paul Wertico, Mark Ledford, Philip Hamilton, Jeff Haynes imaginary Day lour Sunday, Nov. 16 A .1 PAI I IMRD THFATRF x' The Rhirthm Lto.V- WK Tickets On Salt Saturday, Nov. 8 lfkunj Get $5 Discount Coupons at narticinatine King's Fafnilv Restaurants Chris Helcermanas-Benge Jurnee Smollett reveals a depth beyond her years in "Eve's Bayou." Beautiful 'Bayou' An entrancing trip into Creole country Review by Barry Paris Post-Gazette Movie Critic You're a precocious 10-year-old who lives in a fine mansion, your father is the town's beloved doctor, and both you and the town itself are named for your ancestral grandma. It explains why you'd have a little more attitude than most kids, white or black but especially black.

And why Eve acts like she owns a town as well as a film called "Eve's Bayou." Jurnee Smollett has the best child's starring role since Mary Badham's Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird" to which Smollett and "Eve" will be favorably compared, thanks to the intelligence of the girl's performance and of the woman who got it out of her, director Kasi Lemmons. There's a big difference between what Hollywood calls "a black film" and simply a film with a black cast. "Eve's Bayou" is the latter, better thing, the tale of a family galvanized by its charismatic doctor-father (Samuel L. Jackson) but traumatized by his rampant adultery. They worship him, but his infidelities drive his wife (Lynn Whitfield) and elder daughter (Meagan Good) to neurosis and spunky little Eve to voodoo and to her own psychic powers.

Clairvoyance and healing run in the family. Her Aunt Mozelle is a "psychic consultant," wonderfully rendered by quirky Debbi Morgan. Mozelle's nemesis and catalyst for the climax is a voodoo priestess played by someone you'd least expect: Diahann Carroll, in just her second film role in 23 years (we'll exclude and forgive (of the Talking Heads) with special guest i ITS ilito Friday, Nov. 14 Over 111 HUM! TICKETS AT SELECT NRM'S, MUSIC fflkXiLti.Z UAaia, cuuu vinta, havu, nun i DV A 17VC AT CT 4 CAI UDT TOT I A.J. PAI.IIMBO CENTER BOX OFFICE.

lA i This Bucfe Rr bu. with dense Southern accents and use a lot more French and Creole than just the phrase or two found in this film. It might be argued that speech in high-black society has been "mainstreamed" by education, but I wouldn't quite believe it. These characters sound suspiciously like southern Californians to me, and it's a lapse in authenticity. Otherwise, Eve's story is warmly believable.

It's enhanced, and we're entranced, by the backdrop bayou beauty. Leaving the theater, I felt an intense, real yearning to drive straight down there and meet these folks, see for myself. I doubt the Pontiac would make it. But what better feeling can a film induce? 'EVE'S BAYOU' Rating: for language and adult sexual themes Players: Jurnee Smollett, Samuel I. Jackson Director: Kasi Lemmons Critic's call: An equally pleasant surprise is Branford Marsalis in a small but funny part as a drunken party guest.

But the heart of the film belongs to Eve, and Eve's heart, like her sister's, belongs to Daddy. Smollett's expressive depth is beyond her years and a joy to watch. Also joyful, among 2,000 cultural differences between black and white movie audiences, is the black habit of talking back to the screen characters those spontaneous bursts of approval or disapproval, which violate Miss Cinematic Manners' polite white restraint but strike me as akin to the acceptable "Bravos!" at an opera. People rarely shout "Go, girl!" during the Cineaste Society's screening of "Last Year at Marienbad." I'm much too white and self-conscious to do it myself, but I like hearing others do it. My speech quibble is with the characters, not the audience.

Blacks and whites alike in the Louisiana boondocks speak English "If Indeed there is such a thing as a heauenly chorus. It must be the Moscow Boys Choir. St JoMpti Neu nd Prru himm I ill if in which Samuel L. Jackson's character, Dr. Louis Batiste, and Cise-ly, his eldest daughter, have different recollections of a kiss they exchanged.

But other aspects of the project were surprisingly easy. Jackson became interested in the project during the summer of 1994, when the film was little more than an idea. He agreed to portray the lead male character. In a rare feat, Lemmons secured her first casting choices, including Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Diahann Carroll and Jurnee Smollett. Lemmons says she was fortunate to get a commitment from Jackson early on, since big names can help persuade a company to finance a picture.

Nevertheless, she was surprised when Trimark Pictures agreed to put up the money. "They're very, very daring, that company," she said. "By the time we got to them and were in serious negotiations, I was nine jnonthfr ect, she had no idea that she would end up directing her first feature-length film. Some directors she approached turned her down. Several she ruled out for various reasons.

Others, such as actor Morgan Freeman, expressed interest but didn't make a firm commitment. Lemmons desperately wanted someone who could handle the nuances and subtleties of her original material with the right amount of sensitivity. "One morning, I woke up with an epiphany that I should direct it," she said in a telephone interview from her California home. "It could easily be ruined," she explained. "I was interested in the gray areas between the blacks and the whites.

And I was very attached to my concept that it should remain ambiguous. I wanted it to be thought-provoking." There were the usual directing challenges camera angles, staying within budget. And there were a ff-wifiK tliut jeered eflri time as those First time is a charm 'Bayou' director takes matters into her own hands By LaMont Jones Post-Gaiette Staff Writer It began as a collection of short stories perhaps a novel about family conflict, memories and voodoo. But when "Chicago Hope" star Vondic Curtis Hall saw what his wife, actress Kasi Lemmons, had written, he urged her to turn the drama into a screenplay. The result, several years later, is "Eve's Bayou," When Ixmmohbeganto pull together collaborators ori' trie proj One 'petfatHiance Only! This may be your only chance to see and hear this remarkable boy's cholrt Their magical repertory Includes contemporary music, classic folk songs, and beautiful Russian liturgical music that has not been heard for decades.

By ham Theater (6th at Fort Duquesne Boulevard) Sunday, November 16 3 p.m. Tickets: $20 Call: 456-6666 Discounts available for groups of 10 or more MEMBERSHIP ask your operator for detallsl A pnMntdtan of Th. Rubral Gibrai Thai Prfcdp4 Spomor fl Mi November 7, IW, Weekend.