Eve's Bayou

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

Paul & Amy use their second sight on 1997’s Creole family tragedy Eve’s Bayou! They learn why director Kasi Lemmons cut a mute observer character from the film, compare the story to To Kill A Mockingbird, and praise the film’s slippery relationship with truth and memory. Plus: A look at On Our Own, the Smollett family sitcom.

This is the third episode in our Kinspooled series on “effed up families”; next week’s film is The Royal Tenenbaums! Learn more about the show at unspooledpod.com follow us on Twitter @unspooled and Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. You can also listen to our Stitcher Premium game show Screen Test right now, and apply to be a contestant at unspooledpod@gmail.com! Photo credit: Kim Troxall

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I'm a big fan of this movie, I was struck by it back in 1997 or 1998 and even again now on rewatch. But I don't think it's quite right for the Unspooled Space Rocket.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

This one just didn't work for me. I'm actually a bit baffled by everyone praising the visual style, because to me it often felt like a Lifetime movie: flat, overlit interiors with little sense of mood or place. Most scenes are "talking heads," cutting from close-up to close-up, with the occasional showy device (a memory reflected in a mirror). Some aspects of the story are interesting (I like that the ending emphasizes ambiguity and unreliable memory), but I just can't see this as great filmmaking in any sense. I feel like I'm living on another planet from the people who praised this to high heaven, though I feel a bit vindicated by the fact that Lemmons' subsequent career hasn't been much to write home about.

I'll also admit that I watched much of this while tired and distracted by a sick baby daughter, so I may not have been in the best mood.