- Based on the award winning play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this poignant and colorful drama tells the inspirational story of a courageous woman, Nanny, whose spirit and strength served as the foundation for a struggling community trying to survive during the segregation era. Starring an exceptional ensemble cast led by Jimmy Smits, Rosie Perez, and Macy Gray, this inspiring drama from HBO Films is
DOWN IN THE DELTA brings together an outstanding cast of stars in an uplifting story of family, community, and friendship! In a desperate attempt to change her life, Loretta (Alfre Woodard -- STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, MUMFORD) -- a troubled single mother from a tough Chicago neighborhood -- is sent to spend a summer in her family's ancestral home in rural Mississippi. In "The Delta," with the support and widsom of her hardworking Uncle Earl, Loretta finally begins to see a way to provide for her youn! g children and reverse the downward slide of her life. A heartwarming, critically acclaimed motion picture also starring Wesley Snipes (BLADE, U.S. MARSHALS) and Loretta Devine (WAITING TO EXHALE) -- share in this remarkable journey to discover the strength of a family's roots and the power of unconditional love!This family drama begins in a gritty Chicago neighborhood with a jobless, hopeless mother (Alfre Woodard) pouring her efforts into the bottle and various drugs rather than her troubled daughter and wise-beyond-his-years son. But the movie soon heads south, as the title suggests, when Mom and kids are sent to live with an uncle for the summer. Their lives change, of course, but that's the only predictable aspect of this 107-minute film. First-time director Maya Angelou brings her poetic sense to Myron Goble's elegant script, and the performances are uniformly excellent, most notably the always superb Woodard, Al Freeman Jr. as her uncle, and Mary Alice as her mother! . Wesley Snipes takes a break from his action career to do som! e acting as Freeman's son, and the late Esther Rolle is haunting in the last portrayal of her career. The film's touch of mystery is provided by one of its most devastating characters, a candelabra called Nathan. Rated PG-13, but suitable for ages 8 and older.
--Kimberly HeinrichsDown In The Delta brings together an outstanding cast of stars in an uplifting story of family, community and friendship.
In a desperate attempt to change her life, Loretta (
Alfre Woodard,
The Family That Preys)â€"a troubled single mother from a tough Chicago neighborhoodâ€"is sent to spend a summer at her family's ancestral home in rural Mississippi. In "The Delta," with the support and wisdom of her hardworking uncle Earl, Loretta finally begins to see a way to provide for her young children and reverse the downward slide of her life. Also starring
Loretta Devine (
TV's Grey's Anatomy) and
Wesley Snipes (
Brooklyn's Finest).This family drama beg! ins in a gritty Chicago neighborhood with a jobless, hopeless mother (Alfre Woodard) pouring her efforts into the bottle and various drugs rather than her troubled daughter and wise-beyond-his-years son. But the movie soon heads south, as the title suggests, when Mom and kids are sent to live with an uncle for the summer. Their lives change, of course, but that's the only predictable aspect of this 107-minute film. First-time director Maya Angelou brings her poetic sense to Myron Goble's elegant script, and the performances are uniformly excellent, most notably the always superb Woodard, Al Freeman Jr. as her uncle, and Mary Alice as her mother. Wesley Snipes takes a break from his action career to do some acting as Freeman's son, and the late Esther Rolle is haunting in the last portrayal of her career. The film's touch of mystery is provided by one of its most devastating characters, a candelabra called Nathan. Rated PG-13, but suitable for ages 8 and older.
--Kimberl! y HeinrichsThis family drama begins in a gritty Chicago ne! ighborho od with a jobless, hopeless mother (Alfre Woodard) pouring her efforts into the bottle and various drugs rather than her troubled daughter and wise-beyond-his-years son. But the movie soon heads south, as the title suggests, when Mom and kids are sent to live with an uncle for the summer. Their lives change, of course, but that's the only predictable aspect of this 107-minute film. First-time director Maya Angelou brings her poetic sense to Myron Goble's elegant script, and the performances are uniformly excellent, most notably the always superb Woodard, Al Freeman Jr. as her uncle, and Mary Alice as her mother. Wesley Snipes takes a break from his action career to do some acting as Freeman's son, and the late Esther Rolle is haunting in the last portrayal of her career. The film's touch of mystery is provided by one of its most devastating characters, a candelabra called Nathan. Rated PG-13, but suitable for ages 8 and older.
--Kimberly HeinrichsThis family drama be! gins in a gritty Chicago neighborhood with a jobless, hopeless mother (Alfre Woodard) pouring her efforts into the bottle and various drugs rather than her troubled daughter and wise-beyond-his-years son. But the movie soon heads south, as the title suggests, when Mom and kids are sent to live with an uncle for the summer. Their lives change, of course, but that's the only predictable aspect of this 107-minute film. First-time director Maya Angelou brings her poetic sense to Myron Goble's elegant script, and the performances are uniformly excellent, most notably the always superb Woodard, Al Freeman Jr. as her uncle, and Mary Alice as her mother. Wesley Snipes takes a break from his action career to do some acting as Freeman's son, and the late Esther Rolle is haunting in the last portrayal of her career. The film's touch of mystery is provided by one of its most devastating characters, a candelabra called Nathan. Rated PG-13, but suitable for ages 8 and older.
--Kimber! ly HeinrichsEVE'S BAYOU (SIGNATURE SERIES) - DVD MovieActr! ess Kasi Lemmons made an auspicious debut as a writer and director with this delicately handled, wrenchingly emotional drama, hailed by critic Roger Ebert as one of the best films of 1997.
Eve's Bayou begins with ominous narration: "The summer I killed my father, I was 10 years old." From that point the story moves backward in time and memory to Louisiana in 1962, when a young girl named Eve (Jurnee Smollett) witnesses a shocking act on the part of her womanizing father (Samuel L. Jackson). But what really happened? And can Eve be certain about what she saw when there is more than one interpretation of the facts? Less a mystery than a study of deeply rooted emotions rising to the surface to affect an entire family, the film has the quality of classic Southern literature, with layers of memory unfolding to reveal a carefully guarded truth.
--Jeff ShannonBased on the award winning play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this poignant and colorful drama tells the inspirational sto! ry of a courageous woman, Nanny, whose spirit and strength served as the foundation for a struggling community trying to survive during the segregation era. Starring an exceptional ensemble cast led by Jimmy Smits, Rosie Perez, and Macy Gray, this inspiring drama from HBO Films is a celebration of the good things in life, no matter how tough times may be.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Audio Commentary with director George C. Wolfe and writer Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Deleted Scenes
Featurette
Cool music, a wonderful atmospheric feel, and first-rate performances by a stellar cast distinguish
Lackawanna Blues, a 2005, 90-minute film originally broadcast by HBO. Director George C. Wolfe's theater background (as a writer and/or director he's been responsible for
The Colored Museum,
Jelly's Last Jam, and
Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk) is apparent; adapted by scriptwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson from his! own autobiographical play,
Lackawanna Blues is less a ! story th an a reminiscence, told by a young man (an affecting performance by Marcus Carl Franklin) raised by the indefatigable Rachel "Nanny" Crosby (an equally fine turn by S. Epatha Merkerson, known to many from her role in TV's
Law & Order) in that upstate New York town. The focus is on Nanny's rooming house, which is populated by all manner of colorful characters (played by the likes of Macy Gray, Jeffrey Wright, and many others, with Jimmy Smits and Carmen Ejogo as the boy's wayward parents). The roomers include drunks, hustlers, ex-cons, and other shady types, but while plenty of bad stuff goes on, it's all coated with a certain patina of sentiment that tends to minimize the hard realities of life for African Americans in the early 1960s. That's fine; Wolfe, with the help of some superb editing by Brian Kates, gives the film such a delightful period vibe that it's easy to overlook its few shortcomings. The music (available on a
soundtrack CD), ranging from downhom! e country blues to uptown swing, jump blues, and more, also makes a major contribution to the delightful diversion that is
Lackawanna Blues.
--Sam Graham
