How interesting that two of my favorite pieces of pop culture made by Black women about literal Black girl magic both star Jurnee Smollett: the underappreciated 1997 independent film “Eve’s Bayou” and the 2020 HBO drama series “Lovecraft Country.” The two projects are markedly different, but have in common their fiercely committed lead performances by Smollett.
SEEAwards spotlight: Jessie Buckley stuns as a disarmingly maniacal nurse in ‘Fargo’ season 4
Smollett was only 11 when “Eve’s Bayou” opened, and she won a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Child Performance for playing the title character, who puts a curse on her father (Samuel L. Jackson) after hearing that he tried to molest her sister (Meagan Good). Directed by Kasi Lemmons, that film was a powerful exploration of a child struggling to understand adult betrayals, and it all rests on the actress’s young shoulders.
Smollett has been working steadily ever since, and in “Lovecraft Country,...
SEEAwards spotlight: Jessie Buckley stuns as a disarmingly maniacal nurse in ‘Fargo’ season 4
Smollett was only 11 when “Eve’s Bayou” opened, and she won a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Child Performance for playing the title character, who puts a curse on her father (Samuel L. Jackson) after hearing that he tried to molest her sister (Meagan Good). Directed by Kasi Lemmons, that film was a powerful exploration of a child struggling to understand adult betrayals, and it all rests on the actress’s young shoulders.
Smollett has been working steadily ever since, and in “Lovecraft Country,...
- 10/20/2020
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
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