Make it a Double Feature: ‘Daughters of the Dust’ and ‘Eve’s Bayou’
Black History Month is not only a month where we acknowledge pivotal Black figures throughout history, and a form of acknowledgment that should be year-round, but a great time to catch acclaimed cinema that is a part of such expansive history. Even if it means experiencing rough patches within the chronicle of cinema.
The “Black Debutantes” collection, which is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel, contains a wide array of narrative feature debuts from Black female directors. Yet, it’s noticeable that for some of the women whose films are in that collection, their debuts are the only feature films they’ve made. Such a lack of opportunities also reflects how as the Academy Awards celebrate their 98th ceremony, not only has no Black filmmaker ever won the Oscar for Best Director, but no Black woman has ever been nominated. A few have come close: Ava DuVernay for Selma, Regina King for One Night in Miami.., and Gina Prince-Bythewood for The Woman King. But even though AMPAS has gotten better at representing women in the Best Director category, we still have ways to go.
That being said, we’re still going to focus on the positives. For this post, I’ve composed a pairing of two films by trailblazing filmmakers that in fact can be streamed in the aforementioned “Black Debutantes” collection.
First of those is the 1991 indie Daughters of the Dust directed by Julie Dash. The first feature film by an African-American woman to receive a wide U.S. theatrical release and distributed by Kino International, Daughters of the Dust follows a Gullah family living on an island off the coast of Georgia at the turn of the 20th century. As three generations of the Peazant family mingle together, there is friction over whether to travel to the mainland or remain on Igbo Landing in order to preserve the traditions and culture of the Gullah people.
What enriches the storytelling of Daughters of the Dust is how it’s told through a non-linear narrative that nearly transcends medium. Despite it being a fictional narrative, the casting of relatively unknown actors along with excerpts of the island inhabitant characters describing their experience as if they’re talking head interviews create a documentary feel. Meanwhile, its limited setting along with scenes performed with theatrical gusto, like when Eula Peazant (Alva Rogers) bursts into a monologue about confronting generational trauma, show that the story could easily translate as well on stage as a play as it does on film. Also, the unborn child of the pregnant Eula serving as the film’s narrator adds a layer of mysticism into a story firmly grounded in reality.
Its transcendent narrative is enhanced by the lush cinematography by DP Arthur Jafa which not only won the Excellence in Cinematography Award at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival but served as a blueprint for the aesthetic of the acclaimed visual album Lemonade from Beyoncé. Such an homaging of the film’s visuals had only furthered its 25th anniversary re-release and restoration by Cohen Media Group. The score by John Barnes that blends tribal music with electronic synth sounds proves to mesmerize as well.
Bold in storytelling while possessing striking visual flair and strong performances, Daughters of the Dust is an incredible vision to behold. The only negative thing about it is knowing that this remains Julie Dash’s only theatrical feature yet. Nevertheless, by being a part of the National Film Registry, it still remains an essential part of film history. Just hopefully, the Angela Davis biopic that Julie Dash has in the pipeline still finally sees the light of day.
Eve’s Bayou, the feature debut of actress-turned-director Kasi Lemmons, is another tale set in the American South. Yet, by comparison, it has a more linear narrative and leans more into spirituality as it delves into the world of hoodoo. As it follows the story of Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Lovecraft Country), a young girl from an upper-class Creole-American family in 1960s Louisiana, she becomes caught up in mystical forces as family secrets, including the infidelity of family patriarch Louis (Samuel L. Jackson), begin to unravel.
As Eve experiences the ability of clairvoyance, which is known as “second sight,” it draws her closer to her aunt Mozelle (Debbi Morgan), a hoodoo practitioner who has the same gift. One reason their bond serves as the heart of the film is in part due to Debbi Morgan’s performance as Mozelle. Morgan is magnetic as a woman who’s afflicted by her gift and life of solitude yet resilient in her acceptance that people in her life will come and go, whether they pass on or leave physically. A hard life lesson that Eve is forced to learn as she already deals with forces she doesn’t fully understand.
The rest of the cast impresses in equal measure. The underrated Lynn Whitfield astounds as Roz, the matriarch desperately trying to hold her family together, while Oscar nominee Diahann Carroll steals every scene she’s in as Elzora, a mysterious fortune teller who ends up disrupting the Batiste family drama as they turn to her for spiritual guidance. Carroll’s eccentric turn lends the film as much chills as its story about the terrors of coming of age.
For her efforts, Kasi Lemmons won major accolades including the National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Directorial Debut and Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Also, while most actors-turned-directors balance often between both professions, since the release of Eve’s Bayou, Lemmons would slowly gear her focus towards directing on both film and television.
Before our ongoing renaissance of more Black actresses joining the cinematic scream queen pantheon, including Lupita Nyong’o and Wunmi Mosaku, Lemmons created a story that really allows Black women to be at the center of a horror narrative as opposed to the typical best friend or sidekick. Similarly, with Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash sought to have Black women portrayed through an empowering, non-exploitative manner, changing the ways she saw them on screen. Since Black History Month, along with every month, is a time for recognizing trailblazers, why not watch two pivotal films in cinematic history and make it a double feature?
Daughters of the Dust and Eve’s Bayou are currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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