Black Snake Moan
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Movie Reviews of Black Snake Moan
Movie Review: The Grindhouse approach is just the hook for what Jackson and Ricci pull off here
Summary: 5 Stars
When you see the trailer or the poster of "Black Snake Moan" you have to think that this film belongs on a double-feature with "Grindhouse" (okay, that would make it a triple feature). After all, you have a black man holding a scantily clad young white woman in chains. This is a movie that screams "EXPLOITATION!" But the black man in question is Samuel L. Jackson, the white woman is Christina Ricci, and "Black Snake Moan" is written and directed by Craig Brewer, whose previous effort "Hustle & Flow" is remembered more for its Oscar winning song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" rather than Terrence Howard's Oscar nominated performance by those who have not seen the movie (I would have voted for Howard over Philip Seymour Hoffman). So you have to suspect with these people involved that "Black Snake Moan" is not just going to be something like "Diary of a Nymph" with a way bigger budget (actually the movie I was most reminded of when watching this one was "Secretary" because it was another movie after people with serious problems that ended up touching me).
Jackson plays Lazarus, a broken-down blues musician whose wife has finally left him. Lazarus makes his living as a vegetable market gardener living back in the woods all by his lonesome. Ricci is Rae, whose boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) makes love to her one more time before he goes off to join the military. The problem is that as soon as Ronnie leaves the tearful Rae behind, she starts getting the need for lovin' something fierce. Rae literally has an itch to scratch and she turns to the wrong guy, which is why Laz finds her battered body on the road near his place. He takes care of her and discovers her story and not only decides that she needs to be cured of her nymphomania, but that the way to do this is to get a big ol' hunk of chain, put one end around her waist with a padlock and tie the other to the radiator in his house. Laz feels the need to "suffer" Rae. His mind is fixed and he will not be moved and we sure know damn well not to try and argue with the man.
What happens next should be left for you to discover yourself and I think most viewers will be pleasantly surprised by the way this story plays out and impressed by the performances, which are arguably the best that Jackson and Ricci have done to date. They certainly throw themselves into these roles, which for Jackson meant learning to play the guitar and sing the blues while Ricci got to pick out her chain. I also like the character of the Reverend R.L., played by John Cothran, Jr., because the man talks sense, embodying Christian virtues without feeling the need to constantly quote Scripture. I also liked that with both R.L. and the character of Angela (S. Epatha Merkerson), Laz is smart enough to know that what he is trying to do for Rae is not something he can do by himself. Bonus points to Brewer for bringing back Kim Richards to play Rae's white trash moma, Sandy. When trying to figure out who to get for the role Brewer tried to think of who was the Wednesday Addams when he was a kid and came up with Richards, whom he had a big-time crush on from "Escape to Witch Mountain" way back when. I have to round up on this 2006 film just for that reason alone.
Movie Review: Love, Redemption, and Blues
Summary: 5 Stars
I was drawn to this movie because I enjoyed director Craig Brewer's earlier film, "Hustle and Flow". If anything, I liked "Black Snake Moan" even better. The movie combines tawdry and lurid components with a tale of love, forgiveness, and hope. I don't think the film is exploitative. Instead it suggests in a simple way how sensual and redemptive parts of life often complement each other.
In thinking about this movie, I was reminded of George Eliot's novel, "Silas Marner", the bane of every high school student. In Eliot's novel, Marner, an embittered miser finds redemption when he raises Eppie, an orphaned girl, from childhood to young adulthood. Similarly, "Black Snake Moan" tells the story of a middle-aged black American man, Lazarus, portrayed by Samuel Jackson, who feels embittered when Rose, his wife of 12 years, leaves him for his best friend. Lazarus happens upon a young scantily dressed white woman, Rae, played by Christina Ricci, who has been beaten and left near-dead on a country road following a wild party. Lazarus takes her into his home and tries to teach and care for her. Ultimately, the movie suggests, both Lazarus and Rae receive a kind of hope, Rae by marrying her boyfriend, Lazarus by finding what may be a promising new relationship.
The story gets life through a great deal of tawdry sex. At the turning point of the movie, Lazarus chains Rae to a radiator to prevent her escape. Rae was a victim of sexual abuse and a neglectful mother, and in her boyfriend's temporary absence for military service, she throws herself at every man she can find. She appears in the movie scantily clad, in a cut-off blouse with a Confederate flag and in shorts. Lazarus has his own frustrations to work out from the loss of Rose, his wife. A black preacher, the Reverend R.L., played by John Cotham, helps both Lazarus and Rae and is the quiet hero of this movie.
In this movie, atmosphere and scene count for a great deal. The story is set in a small Tennessee town near Nashville, and the story is redolent with poor Southern life, both black and white. There is scenes in shacks and farms, and small town stores and streets, and in clubs and bars that bring the movie to life. Brewer shows the same love for and knowledge of the rural South that he showed in "Hustle and Flow". Most importantly there is music. The tale of sex and redemption is captured in the flow of the blues in a soundtrack and in performances by Lazarus himself. Jackson spent long hours learning the blues guitar in preparation for this movie. The movie includes two scenes of footage with the great Delta bluesman Son House holding forth appropriately on love, loss, and the blues. Music is a redemptive force in people's lives, and in this movie of the hot-blooded South, redemption comes through the blues.
I found the tawdry elements of this movie an essential part of the story it had to tell. "Black Snake Moan" is rewarding.
Robin Friedman
Movie Review: "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine . . ."
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellent, underrated movie betrayed by its atrocious theatrical poster, BLACK SNAKE MOAN works on just so many levels. Samuel L. Jackson is Lazarus, a farmer and natural blues guitarist living in rural Tennessee. Lazarus' wife has left him for his brother, and the bitter Lazarus veers like a skirling wind between self-pity, world-weariness, emotionally-charged violence, and religiously-fueled hopefulness.
One morning, he finds Rae (Christina Ricci) lying beaten, bloody, and naked in the road near his house. Rae is the girl in town with the "reputation"; the least perjorative way to describe her behavior is that she uses her sexuality as both a weapon and a shield, closing herself off from a trauma-scarred childhood. Consequently, Rae manipulates men and is victimized by them. Her boyfriend Ronnie has just been deployed with the Tennessee National Guard, and in her lonely misery, her evening companion has attacked her and dumped her off.
The lonely Lazarus takes Rae in, but realizing that she is delirious both from the beating and a raging fever, he chains her inside the house so she will not wander. Although Rae first tries to get away, she soon finds in Lazarus a kindred spirit, and the two become friends.
Unfortunately, the image of Lazarus holding the panty-clad Rae by a length of chain is the image the promoters chose to market this film. This sexually-charged, racially stereotyped symbolism undoubtedly ruined this film's reception. And it's a shame, because BLACK SNAKE MOAN is a splendid film with great depth. Of course, the mostly-naked Ricci is sexy in a trailer park way (it's said that she put herself on a diet of junk to acheive the sallow, sunken-eyed look which typifies Rae), but the relationship between Lazarus and Rae develops into a profoundly moving father-daughter bond as the film progresses.
It is not one-sided. Both Rae and Lazarus are able to collect the shards of their shattered self-esteem and rebuild their lives. In the Hollywood manner, all their complex problems are resolved by the end of the third reel, but nonetheless, BLACK SNAKE MOAN gives us a wonderful portrait of two deeply wounded people finding themselves in each other's eyes.
There are many women like Rae; and there are many men like Lazarus. It is the reality of their shared experience that hits home with such force. We know these people. On some level, we are these people. A film can accomplish nothing finer nor more meaningful and lasting than that. The blues soundtrack is a perfect underscore to what we see onscreen.
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Movie Review: Nasty, Gritty, Sweaty Redemption
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew I had to see this movie when I first saw the advertising art cruising past me on the side of a Los Angeles Transit Bus. A sweaty Samuel L. Jackson clutching a thick chain, while a near-naked Christina Ricci crawled on the floor. "Yup", I said to myself, "this looks unusual". I know this isn't a feminist-correct thing to say, but I swore right then and there to pay my $6 just to endorse the ad art. Since that time, I have acquired the DVD, and I still think that "Black Snake Moan" is a most unusual picture.
This is not a movie for the faint-hearted in many ways. Ricci's character, Rae, is a truly degraded soul - she can't drink enough or have enough sex to make her pain go away. It's not presented as theory, either - you have to watch this young woman doing some pretty rank stuff. I personally wanted to take some strong action to sober her up and straighten her out. Thankfully, Jackson's character, Lazarus, took care of this for me -- "I aim to heal you of your wickedness," he says to her, and that's a good thing.
Most of the action in this movie takes place in a pretty limited physical space - Lazarus' cabin. It realy does seem in some ways as though it could have been a stage play - maybe that's why so many people have remarked that it has a Tenneessee Williams feel to it. I kind of wish it had been written as a stage play - I would have been interested to see what interpretations a variety of actors would have brought to these roles.
The other reviews on this site will pretty much explain the rest of the picture. Some people apparently feel that the ending is unbelievable -- a bit too pat and happy. Me, I liked it -- heck, the entire film is unbelievable. Why complain about the happy ending? The blues music was wonderful -- there's a sequence where Lazarus is playing his guitar while a lightning storm goes on outside his cabin and Raew sits on the floor, clutching his leg. Wow, that was a fine sequence.
One reviewer here remarked on the "unrealistic" fact that Ricci's underwear/costume stayed white throughout and did not get all grimey. Personally, I appreciated that. I don't think that costuming choice on the director's part was pornographic - it was more like a courtesy to the viewers. There's enough grime and sweat in this picture, why add to it? Maybe the perpetually white underwear was symbolic of her basically pure soul. Or maybe not.
Great ad art, great music, clean underwear, lots of sweat and a happy ending. That's about it. Except that this is a film for grown-ups.
Movie Review: The Best Film I've Seen in 2007
Summary: 5 Stars
From the writer/director of "Hustle & Flow" comes "Black Snake Moan," the best film I've seen in 2007. It's a unique film that features two terrific performances by Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci, both delivering their best performances in years. It also features another star-making performance by Justin Timberlake (who recently impressed me in "Alpha Dog"). The film stars Ricci as Rae, that girl that lives in every city in America and is usually referred to as "the town slut." After her boyfriend Ronnie (Timberlake) leaves her for a stint in the Army, she begins getting more and more destructive; eventually, she is almost raped, beaten, and tossed out in the road. Lazarus (Jackson) has recently been left by his wife for his brother and when he finds the young girl lying in the road he takes responsibility for curing the "sickness" she has.
So, naturally, he chains her to his radiator. When she finally wakes up, she's shocked at first but eventually grows to love Lazarus...And soon, they realize that Lazarus is not just helping her but they're helping each other. This is a great film and, as a result, it's been hailed around the world as such...But it hasn't quite garnered commercial attention and this is sad. It may not sound like the kind of movie that will appeal to a massive audience, but it's a movie that I think people will find themselves enjoying. It's a fable about love, redemption, and sex...The story could've gone in many different directions, but writer/director Craig Brewer keeps it all together and takes what could've been a completely meaningless story and makes it almost life-affirming. Jackson is an actor who never fails to impress, but he's an actor who has made more bad movies than good ones. Here, I'm not going out on a limb by saying it could be his best performance (and maybe even his best film) since "Pulp Fiction." Ricci has always been an actress that's impressed me, but she hasn't done much worth noting over the past 5 years. That makes her comeback here all the more impressive. She combines all the right notes of vulnerability and sexual animosity to make this performance incredibly believable. As for Timberlake, he didn't impress me as much here as he did in "Alpha Dog" but he definitely leaves me asking where he got his acting chops? If he chokes a pretzel and ruins his vocal cords or something, acting could definitely be a fall back for him. Brewer is quickly joining the ranks of great writer/directors and his 2nd film is even stronger than his first.
GRADE: A