This film is now showing on cable here in Australia, and is a far better than average offering.

Written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, the film is a powerful family drama set in the sixties in the south of the USA. It stars Samuel L Jackson as a small town doctor with a wandering eye. The story is told from the viewpoint of his middle child, Eve, wonderfully played by Jurnee Smollett, who sees her middle-class family life threatened by her father's infidelities.

No tale set in a bayou village could exist without references to black magic and voodoo, and this film also has them as a rather central part of the plot. But these elements are handled skilfully and believably, and heighten the tension that develops.

One of the interesting tools used by Lemmons is to tell and retell a story from different characters' perspectives, asking the viewer to determine which is more truthful, and indeed, whether the truth is paramount.

Jackson gives a sparkling performance as Dr Louis Batiste, a man of warmth and generosity who is well regarded by the local community that he serves. His family is seemingly a happy and close one, until the children begin to question some of the adult behaviour they witness.

Jurnee Smollett's Eve is the main protagonist around whom much of the story is centred, and she effortlessly moves back and forth between being a precocious brat and a young woman with powerful emotions. The rest of the cast is also very good, including a voluptuous Lisa Nicole Carson as the temptress Mattie Mereaux, and Diahann Carroll as a bayou witch.

This film moves along at a good pace and is a little more than you might expect.

Jussie Smollett is a the daughter of Doctor Samuel L. Jackson and Lynn Whitfield. She's just got her first period, her father is cheating on her mother, and she's angry and confused.

We all have sorts of movies we like, and those we dislike. For a movie about the sort of people I have no interest in -- small town girls on the verge of womanhood in Louisiana -- this is an awfully fine movie. The characters are well written, with histories that go back more than a hundred years, the camerawork by Amy Vincent makes the hideous tangle of half-dead bayous look interesting, and Debbie Morgan has a great turn as the relative who offers to kill someone with voodoo for Miss Smollett. Neither does this movie either pander to or denigrate Miss Smollett's issues; at that age, the soul is afflicted by uncertainty, and her faulty and faltering efforts to deal with that terrifying state seem real.

This is a fine debut for director Kasi Lemmons. I shall keep my eyes open for other movies of hers.

The story is set in 1962 Louisiana. The Batiste family is headed by charming doctor Louis (Sam Jackson). Though he is married to beautiful Roz, he has a weakness for attractive female patients. One night Louis trysts with married and sexy Metty Mereaux, not knowing that he is observed by his youngest daughter Eve, who is there by accident.

The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews, with Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert naming it the best film of 1997. Despite the praise, it seems to have been largely forgotten, and did not merit a single Oscar nomination that year. Going in to the picture today (2016),I had never heard of it, nor did I have a clue what it was about.

The best part of this movie is that you can never be sure how much is real. Because most of it is told through the eyes of a 10-year old, some things may be misunderstood or distorted. A second viewing might be helpful.