Entertainment

Film Review: ‘Lila & Eve’

Published

10 years ago

July 16, 2015

Oakland Post

Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez in Lila & Eve (Courtesy Photo)

By Dwight Brown
NNPA Film Critic

“When our child is killed we feel guilt. We feel like failures,” says the leader of a women’s group devoted to mothers whose children have been murdered. “Get to acceptance, so you can get on with life.” Those words of comfort and guidance are lost on Lila (Oscar-nominee Viola Davis) in this oddly affecting, but always engaging drama/crime/thriller that is themed around a topical subject but takes viewers in an unpredictable direction.

This project started with actress/producer Viola Davis and screenwriter Pat Gilfillan, who spent two years interviewing mothers of murdered children to prep for the script. Davis and co-star Jennifer Lopez worked together originally on the film Out of Sight back in 1998. Director Charles Stone III made an auspicious film debut with the popular film Drumline. They are the A-team that pulled this very female appealing film together along with funding from Lifetime Networks. What’s on view is a low-budget film that fluctuates between a cable movie and an indie art film. Consistently, it is the latter element that saves the movie, along with Ms. Davis, who is up to the challenge of carrying 94 minutes of mama drama on her shoulders.

Told in flashbacks that don’t really ruffle the story’s inner clock, Lila (Davis), a single mom and public-records worker lives with her 18-year-old son, Stephon (Aml Ameen, Beyond the Lights), and her younger son, Justin (Ron Caldwell). They are a close-knit family. Lila is loving, and her sons feed off her attempts to talk in their young hip lexicon while still being a taskmaster mom. There is no preparation for the night Stephon is gunned down on a street corner. Shot dead in a drive-by killing meant for someone else. Lila grieves. She seeks support at the “Mothers of Young Angels” support-group meetings.

At one of the sessions, she meets Eve Rafael (Lopez), who lost her daughter to a crime. Eve becomes Lila’s sponsor and the two strike up a friendship. Both are hurt. Both are angry. Neither has seen the police department or the justice system find the killers of their children, and Eve is extremely pessimistic about the police’s efforts: “They don’t think about us. Hell, they don’t even see us.” From a thought, to action, to involvement in their own investigation, the two ladies, with a revolver in tow and not much of a conscience, seek out leads, take names, confront suspects and let the bodies fall where they may.

If this film had stuck to a Lifetime Original series tone, what follows would be laughable. Instead, thanks to Patrick Gilfillan’s unpredictable script, Charles Stone III’s spot on direction, Wyatt Garfield’s (Beasts of the Southern Wild) moody cinematography and Robert K. Lambert’s (Three Kings) well-paced editing, what unfolds is an engaging, twisted, and shockingly understated, slightly dreamy revenge movie lead by two feminine women who have the balls of a stevedore.

Jenny from the Block wears too much makeup for a movie like this, but she is passable as the temptress Eve, who leads Lila down a bloody path of murder. Shea Whigham (The Wolf of Wall Street) as the investigating Detective Hollister, who is by-the-book and consequently inept, is the one who can unravel the mystery of the street hoods who are being popped like stuff pigeons in a shooting gallery. Andre Royo (The Wire), his partner, is an articulate and politically ambitious cop who wants to take the case in another direction. Julius Tennon portrays Ben, the guy down the street who tries to mend Lila’s broken heart; he’s also Davis’ husband. There is a long list of supporting actors who play gang members; all are good, none stand out. They do their job. They act tough and take a bullet.

The strange script and steady direction would be nothing without an actress of Davis’ caliber. She is raw. Her emotions run the gamut. You believe Lila loves her children, is capable of being duplicitous to inquiring cops and able to stand up to a thug, in imperfect and sometimes implausible ways (e.g. The film’s climax).

There are times when the proceedings have the feel and methodical pacing of a foreign indie film. This almost intangible quality rarely wavers. You will stick with this film and its main characters even if you have to suspend your disbelief every now and then. After a revelation towards the end that puts the proceedings in a different light, your patience will be rewarded. The footage rolls to an ending that is satisfying and makes the time it takes to watch this crime thriller evolve worth the effort. Lila & Eve will someday be a great cable movie. For right now it is a compelling indie film.

Visit NNPA Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Review: Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ Gives Atticus Finch a Dark Side

Don't Miss

Kylie Jenner Accused of ‘Cultural Appropriation’ for Wearing Cornrows

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

Published

14 hours ago

January 2, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

1 week ago

December 25, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.