It’s Wednesday evening here at BCB After Dark, the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. So glad to have you stop by. We’ve got a bit of a celebration going on here. You’re welcome to join us. There are still a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party
started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked you how worried were you about Michael Busch’s slow start to the season. Overall, your level of worry was low, as 31 percent put it at a “2” on a scale of 1 to 5, with one being almost no worry at all. Another 28 percent put your worry leveal at “3” and 26 percent put it at a “1.”
The Cubs clobbered the Phillies tonight 11-2, taking 2 out of 3 from Philadelphia. So we’re all good vibes tonight. Let’s keep it that way.
Here’s the part where we listen to jazz and talk movies. You can skip ahead of you want.
Today we have a visit from saxophonist Joe Lovano with a new performance that was released just this week. Lovano is joined by Julian Lage on guitar, Asante Santi Debriano on double bass and Will Calhoun on drums.
This is “Lady Day.” I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing this song is a tribute to Billie Holiday. Just a guess. 😉
I recently wrote that I wanted to do a full essay on Eve’s Bayou, a film that I really admired. Since I haven’t had time to watch any other new films this week, I thought this would be a good time to do that.
Eve’s Bayou (1997) Directed and written by Kasi Lemmons. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Debbi Morgan, Meagan Good and Diahann Carroll.
Eve’s Bayou is a terrific Southern gothic family melodrama with all the trappings of an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play with a few exceptions. For one, Lemmons has a lot more sympathy for her characters than Williams ever did. Yes, this is a dysfunctional Southern family, but they mostly love each other and have good intentions at heart. Second, Eve’s Bayou adds in a supernatural element. And finally, unlike Williams, everyone in this Southern gothic is Black.
The film starts with a now-older Eve Batiste (voice over by Tamara Tunie) explaining that “The summer I killed my father, I was 10 years old.” With that, we’re transported back to rural Louisiana in 1962 where a ten-year-old Eve (Smolett) sees the world with very different eyes. Her father Louis (Jackson), is a very well-off doctor who lives in a huge house that has been in their family for generations. He has a loving wife Roz (Lynn Whitfield), whom we eventually learn struggles with depression. Louis and Roz have three children, of which Eve is the middle one. Eve is jealous of her older sister Cisely (Good), who seems to have a much closer relationship with their father than she does. Is this just sibling rivalry or is something darker going on?
Louis is a kind and loving father who adores his wife and children. He’s also the type of good-looking and successful man who doesn’t see the point of limiting himself to one woman. One night at a party, Eve discovers her father having sex with a married neighbor (Lisa Nicole Carson). She’s too young to completely understand what’s going on and Louis assures her that what she saw was totally innocent. Eve tells 13-year-old Cisely about it and while her older sister knows exactly what happened, she also tries to protect the innocence of her younger sister by telling her she didn’t see what she thought she saw.
Eve’s Bayou is the story of how a child’s idealization of her father dies when they realize that they’re just people like everyone else. Louis’ womanizing eventually causes him to fall from Eve’s graces hard.
The supernatural element comes in with a story told at the top of the film about how the Batistes are the descendants of a slave with second sight. This gift earned her her freedom and is presumably a big reason why the family is so prosperous. This psychic ability is passed on through the women of the family. There are strong hints that Eve herself is starting to gain these powers, but her aunt Mozelle (Morgan) definitely has them. She works as a kind of respectable psychic/therapist for the people of the area. Unfortunately, she believes her power comes with a curse. Mozelle has been married three times and all three of her husbands died. Also, while she can see everyone else’s future, she can’t see her own.
Aunt Mozelle longs for a family of her own that she believes she can never have. But with her sister-in-law disappearing in periods of depression, Mozelle steps in as a surrogate mother to her two nieces and nephew. It’s not enough to overcome her own sadness, but it helps.
Back to Eve, her disillusionment with her father only increases as everyone around her insists nothing is wrong. This drives her into the arms of Aunt Mozelle’s mortal enemy, Elzora, played by a delicious Diahann Carroll. Whereas Mozilla uses her supernatural gifts as a kind of unlicensed therapist, Elzora is a fortune teller (and maybe a witch) who works at a roadside booth at the local outdoor farmer’s and flea market. Eve making contact with Elzora is what sets in motion the events that brings her father and their family down.
Eve’s Bayou is a film that does a lot of great things with point of view. The framing device is important. This is a story told 35 years later about events seen by a woman when she was ten years old. The narration isn’t unreliable so much as it is uncertain. The climax of the film is told Rashomon-style with the truth here not being relative as much as it is lost to the sands of time and memory, with everyone having their own point of view. It’s also about how the world is never what it appears to be to a ten-year-old girl.
Any film that puts a child at the center of it is going to succeed based on the strength of the child actor. It should come as no surprise that the ten-year-old Smollett is terrific. So is Good as Cisely and it should come as little surprise that both child actors have had successful careers as adults. I don’t think I need to tell you about Jackson’s considerable talents and I assure you that he can give a great performance without dropping a few dozen f-bombs. I’ve already mentioned how great the legendary Diahann Carroll is and Morgan more than holds her own as Aunt Mozelle.
What’s remarkable about Eve’s Bayou is how many different levels it works on. It’s a good melodrama about a kind of nostalgia for the happy days of a family of the Black Elite in the early-sixties. It’s a coming-of-age story for two young girls and it’s also about how everyone’s little mistakes end up blowing the whole thing up. There’s also that mystical, supernatural element that both keeps it in the African-American tradition and throws a twist into what could be a run-of-the-mill gothic story. And then there is the film’s take on memory and perspective and how it throws everything we think we know into doubt.
All in all, Eve’s Bayou is a great movie.
The trailer for Eve’s Bayou.
Eve’s Bayou is on Peacock and free on Kanopy, Plex and Fawsome.
Welcome back everyone who skips the music and movies.
Tonight we’re in a good mood with the Cubs winning two of three in Philadelphia. So there’s going to be no negative talk here. Just good vibes.
So I’m asking you which Cub has been the most pleasant surprise for you this year. Who has surpassed your high expectations already? Who is the guy who has you excited already?
I tried to pick the players who I think are doing better than expectations. I suppose if your expectations of Alex Bregman were that he would repeat Jason Heyward’s first year with the Cubs, you can vote “other.” But I think these six are a good place to start.
And please tell us in the comments why you voted the way you did.
Thanks again for stopping by. We hope we made your visit enjoyable. Check around your table for all your belongings. Get home safely. Tip the waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark.
