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Friday, July 17, 2015

MOVIE REVIEW Lila And Eve
 Outlaws Of The Mind, Avengers Of The Body

"Thelma And Louise" reprise photo: Viola Davis as Lila and Jennifer Lopez a Eve in "Lila And Eve", a drama directed by Charles Stone III.  Samuel Goldwyn
       
by Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Friday, July 17, 2015

 “Lila And Eve”, a Charles Stone III-helmed drama of avenger angels and interminable demons, falls flat early on, exploiting illness and bereavement to justify a “Thelma & Louise”-type slippery slope point-of-no-return hook it doesn’t deserve. 

Mr. Stone’s film (which opened today at the Elmwood 6 in Berkeley, California among other theaters), takes shortcuts by usurping push-button mechanisms: within the opening minute Lila’s (Viola Davis) teen son Stephon (Aml Ameen) is callously killed close-up.  Rage fuels.  Lila, a single mother who may or may not be an interior decorator, has loving flashbacks of Stephon while younger son Justin (Ron Caldwell) suffers the effects of his loss.  The film's dim-witted police are more interested in their task-force on a white female crime victim than investigating Stephon’s killing. 

Lila seeks solace in a workshop counsel of grieving mothers, a clichéd, ineffective group as amplified by the aptly-named Eve (Jennifer Lopez).  Eve has lost her daughter to violence, and abruptly leaves the counsel.  She hasn't time for ceremony or symbolism.

Eve is primal, the film’s seductive agent of chaos.  Eve is all id and the temptation that overwhelms Lila’s confusion.  Direct action is how Eve lives and at times the tone of “Lila And Eve” is decidedly lurid, even mildly titillating, though in a way that percolates rather than shouts.  Lila, in great pain from the loss of her eldest son, follows Eve’s impulsive lead.  Bodies fall.  Body counts rise.  Retribution is unleashed.  But at what cost, and whose loss?  Lila dishonors her own objectives, and this expedient film shamelessly rides on dead Black and Latino men's backs, while making its Black and Latino women look thoughtless and silly.  We do learn however, that Blacks and Latinos love to party, do drugs and kill.

Patrick Gilfillan's shambolic writing doesn't deter Ms. Davis from comfortably finding refuge in the unsteady Lila as she grieves.  Ms. Lopez brings brazen spirit and restlessness to Eve, a take-charge presence.  But at day’s end “Lila And Eve” is all straw-man, a lazy, shallow, one-dimensional and racially stereotyped portrayal of Black and Latino men viewed exclusively as drug addicts, killers or drug-dealers.  All but one reflexively pulls out a gun at a split-second’s notice.  Only Julian Tennon (Ms. Davis' real-life husband), attempts to put a spanner or wrench into this film's onslaught against men of color.

The reveal that arrives late on in “Lila And Eve” is one I predicted fifteen minutes in.  The way the film is shot -- its appalling lighting included -- is a giveaway.  You don’t need to wait till late, for long before then it has been clear: "Lila And Eve" is pitiful and empty -- and tells us that ending lives creates greater value in survivors than investigating the complexity of feelings and emotions does.  

Also with: Shea Whigham, Andre Royo, Michole Briana White, Yalonda Ross, Chris Chalk, Quinton Garvin, Teddy Williams.

“Lila And Eve” is rated R by the Motion Picture Association Of America for violence and language.  The film's running time is one hour and 34 minutes.
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