D

Spend , An
- Evening With Some Very Close Friends

original such as Fettuccine Alla
Bolognese or our tempting Linguine
Alla Marinara.

Why just have dinner tonight,
when you can spend an evening
with your friends at Andiamo
Italia? Only minutes off 1-696 in
nearby Warren, we're very close
friends.

Don't just have dinner tonight.
Spend an elegant evening with your
very close friends at Andiamo Italia.

Experience the regional Italian
creations of Master Chef, Aldo
Ottaviani, who brings 40 years of
experience to each carefully
prepared dish. Enjoy a famous Aldo

•

ITALIA

7096 East Fourteen Mile Road, Warren, Michigan 48902 (810) 268-3200

Jurnee Smolett is 10-year-old Eve and Samuel L. Jackson stars as her father, Dr.
Louis Batiste, in Eve's Bayou.

beloved by too many of his female
patients. There is his gorgeous wife
Roz (the enigmatic Lynn Whitfield),
who is not at all blind to her hus-
band's wandering eye. Not much gets
by his daughters, either. And after 10-
year-old Eve (Jurnee Smollett) catches
her Daddy in the carriage house with
another woman, 14-year-old Cisely
(Meagan Good) introduces her to the
Batiste family line.
"You were in there at the wrong
time,” Cisely says gravely, before help-
ing Eve re-imagine the scene in a less
incriminating light. Like their mother,
the sisters make allowances for their
father's compulsive womanizing. And
like the tortured Roz, their denial will
hurt them more than it hurts their
philandering pop.
Thanks to Jackson's complex per-
formance and Lemmons' subtle writ-
ing, Louis Batiste emerges as a man
you can't help loving, in spite of his
faults and your doubts. The
writer/director has an equally assured
grasp of such thorny issues as adoles-
cent sexuality, mother-daughter ten-
sion and sibling rivalry. The young
actresses aren't always up to the
demands of Lemmons' occasionally
overheated script, but Eve's Bayou has
enough finely tuned family moments
to make up for at least some of the
hokum that surrounds them.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of
hokum, most of it involving Louis'
clairvoyant sister Mozell (Debbi
Morgan) and her nemesis Elzora
(Diahann Carroll), the town voodoo
queen and all-purpose crackpot. For a
film that knows exactly where it's
going, Eve's Bayou takes its sweet,
meandering time getting there. When
all of the elements merge, Lemmons'

intricate coming-of-age film is almost
as lovely as Amy Vincent's glowing
photography.
When they don't, things get a bit
muddled, and Lemmons returns to
another breathtaking shot of Spanish
moss wafting over sensuous bayou
waters. The scenery is terrific, but the
movie could use a better map. Rated R.
* * 1/2

—

‘..WM:MA7,t7,`W

40 NIGHTLY DINNER SPECIALS

Fresh Variety of Seafood, Steaks & Chops
All specials come with soup, salad & dessert

BREAKFAST SPECIALS AS LOW AS $1 79

TWO HOMEMADE SOUPS SERVED DAILY

Reviewed by Karla Peterson

MAD CITY
Mad City is spittin' mad at the
press, mostly TV news, but in such a
calculated way that it is hard to feel
the spray.
Directed with practiced expertise by
Constantin Costa-Gavras, who once
brought passion to political dramas
such as Z and The Confession, the film
tries to provoke,
grindingly. It
feels like one
giant, corporate
entity
(Hollywood)
gnawing on the
jawbone of
another (televi-
sion) — aren't
these behemoths
by now too cozy
and "synergistic"
John Travolta co-
for the old rival-
stars with Dustin
ry to be real?
Hoffman in Mad
Star power ham-
City.
mers it along.
Dustin Hoffman, with his plumb-line
voice and canny mind whirring
translucently, hammers best. He is
Max Brackett, a minor Mike Wallace
who fell from network heights to a

MAD CITY on page 106

VAMB:kMakIlW -'

12 OZ.
VEAL CHOP
$795

BROILED
LAKE SUPERIOR
WHITEFISH

Rice and
vegetable

Served with
potato & vegetable

$ 750

LUNCH SPECIAL

GREEK SALAD
& CUP OF SOUP

$ 475

29221 NORTHWESTERN (CORNER OF 12 MILE RD.) • SOUTHFIELD

SERVING
OAKLAND COUNTY
FOR 15 YEARS

(248) 358-2353

7 locations to serve you

10% SENIOR
DISCOUNT
AFTER 12 P.M.

1 /2 OFF

Any Menu Item

when a 2nd menu item of equal or
greater value is purchased

Not good with any other offer. Expires November 30, 1997
Valid Anytime • Dine in Only

L

6745 ORCHARD LAKE RD.
Across from Americana West
(248) 737-7242