Review of Black Snake Moan (2006) by Moz G — 26 May 2009
Black Snake Moan is designed to look and sound like a B-grade exploitation flick. It opens with a hot sex scene followed shortly thereafter by the sight of a girl writhing on the ground in apparent sexual frustration.
Later, there's booze and blues and black-and-blue marks. There's a white girl in chains and a black man holding the key. The film pushes more buttons than an elevator operator but, in the end, it works to turn expectations upside down.
The movie has things to say about race and religion and the pain of loneliness, and it does so with considerable offbeat wit. It introduces three broken people and shows how a little understanding can salve wounds, if not completely heal them.
Rae (Christina Ricci) is a bad girl with an ugly past. She has been saved from herself by Ronnie (Justin Timberlake), a guy with issues of his own. But Ronnie is leaving - despite pleas from his girlfriend, he has decided to join the army as the first step on a path to his future.
His departure wrecks Rae and, less than a day after Ronnie is gone, she has slipped back into her old ways of promiscuity and drugs. After being used and abused, she is unceremoniously dropped onto the side of a lonely stretch of rural road.
There she lies until the next morning, when she is discovered by Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), an aging ex-blues guitarist whose own life is in tatters. His wife has left him and all he has left are the vegetables he grows in his garden.
He takes Rae in and nurses her back to health. He gives her cough syrup, an ice bath to break her fever, and petroleum jelly for her scrapes and wounds. He also gives her a 40 pound chain to keep her from running away.
It is his mission to teach her to mend her wicked ways. Things don't work out as either of them plan. Despite its tendency to go over-the-top, I found Black Snake Moan to be both engaging and moving.
I cared about the characters and was interested in their circumstances. Brewer doesn't preach, but he says a lot.
This review of Black Snake Moan (2006) was written by Moz G on 26 May 2009.
Black Snake Moan has generally received positive reviews.
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