Down in the Delta

(Miramax)

Maya Angelou makes her feature directorial debut with this uplifting but flawed saga that stars a wildly expressive Alfre Woodard as jobless young mother Loretta. Her rock-bottom self-esteem makes her an easy target for the temptations of her Chicago 'hood, so her high-minded mama (Mary Alice) ships Loretta and her kin to Biloxi to spend a Mississippi summer with rumble-throated Uncle Earl (Al Freeman Jr.) and his Alzheimer's-stricken wife (Esther Rolle).