Tags
2000's, Black Snake Moan, Christina Ricci, Craig Brewer, Drama, Justin Timberlake, Samuel L. Jackson
Film Title
Black Snake Moan
Director
Craig Brewer
Starring
- Samuel L. Jackson as Lazarus
- Christina Ricci as Rae
- Justin Timberlake as Ronnie
I remember seeing the advertisements for Black Snake Moan when it was released and thinking that it just looked like a sleazy attempt at revamping the exploitation movie. But when I finally got around to watching it, boy was I surprised. It actually is a film, which does take some influences from 70’s exploitation cinema, but emerges as a study of sex, lacerated souls and redemption. It may be outrageous and questionable, but Craig Brewer keeps you interested by crafting this tale of forgiveness with the blues serving as a soulful backdrop.
Living in Tennessee, Lazarus is a former blues guitarist who plows the land on his surrounding farm. He is consumed by anger since his wife left him for his brother, and as a result his faith in religion has waned. This changes when he comes across Rae, a girl suffering from nymphomania and a victim of childhood abuse, who he finds beaten and left for dead in the middle of the road. As he nurses her back to health, he sees Rae as someone who he can help with her personal demons. He finds an interesting way of doing this which includes chaining her to his radiator to cure her of her wanton ways . Although Rae and Lazarus are initially at each others throats, a genuine friendship develops between them as they open up about the pain that is plaguing them. Lazarus can’t accept that his wife has left him for his brother, whereas Rae is struggling with her condition and unable to cope with the fact that her boyfriend Ronnie has left for the army. In a way both characters nurse the other through the deep-seated anguish and head towards the road of redemption. Some great dialogue from Craig Brewer and all out amazing performances from Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci give Black Snake Moan a reflective and redemptive quality backed up by the blues on the soundtrack.
Craig Brewer as writer and director takes this seemingly outrageous premise and transforms it into something quite moving indeed. We see the gradual unfolding friendship that develops between the angry Lazarus and loose living Rae and the effect each has on the other in their emotional journey. If you’ve only seen the advertising campaign for Black Snake Moan don’t let that put you off, in my view it detracts from the power of the film and if you do see it, it is something quite different from what the marketing made out. The carefully chosen blues soundtrack makes for a great listen and gives us an insight into the damaged minds of the two principal characters. Amy Vincent’s amazing cinematography of faded browns and golden hues compliments the sweltering Southern Gothic references made throughout Black Snake Moan. There is the grainy quality of exploitation cinema apparent in some areas of the film but I wouldn’t quite class Black Snake Moan as an all out exploitation flick. I would say it’s a drama, with Southern Gothic references that concentrates on the characters as they mend their broken souls through confession and music. For the most part, Black Snake Moan succeeds in telling this unflinching story and only sometimes lapses into full on melodrama and ludicrous moments. Thankfully, Craig Brewer keeps these moments few and far between and raises the outrageous appearance of the story into this redemptive drama.
The two principal performers in Black Snake Moan, Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci give it their all as these damaged characters. Samuel L. Jackson effectively portrays the anger boiling inside Lazarus, but also the caring side that wants to help Rae in her struggles. Jackson contributes fierce rage, comfort and a bad ass attitude into an excellent performance. Christina Ricci oozes rawness and unrestrained pain as Rae; the town nymphomaniac who is spiralling into self-destruction. Ricci may show her body in this movie, but she does some of her most naked acting with her clothes on. She has an emotional honesty that she imbues Rae with and genuinely makes the audience understand why this girl acts the way she does and the traumatic reasons that led to it. Although his character is underwritten, Justin Timberlake is effective enough as the nervous soldier boyfriend of Rae, whose departure began her slow descent into wanton ways.
It may be outrageous and questionable to say the least, but Black Snake Moan effectively overcomes the exploitation tag to give us a redemptive story of two connecting souls who are given emotional weight by Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci.
Abbi said:
I can’t remember much of this but I do know I quite liked it when I saw it.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for the comment, I really thought the two central performances were so intense and believable.
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jjames36 said:
I really liked this movie. It is daring, smart and so well written.
Good review.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for the comment, I liked how daring this movie was.
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cindybruchman said:
I liked this film. Ricci was incredible and Samuel was in top form. I liked everything about it. Nice review!
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vinnieh said:
Thanks, I really thought Ricci was on top form and her scenes with Jackson were amazing.
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CMrok93 said:
Good review Vinnie. It was a pretty dirty movie, but done so in a good way that may have been a bit bizarre at times, but still was able to get me into the mind of who these characters are and why any of them matter. Especially Ricci’s character.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for the comment, I thought it worked well in burrowing deep into the wounded mind sets of Lazarus and Rae.
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The Vern said:
Very Nice Review. I agree that the marketing was a bit misleading, but Im glad that it was. I was also really surprised by this one. Jackson and Ricci are very good and their transformations are both very believable.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks, it’s always got to be surprised by a movie when the marketing has it down as something else.
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Mr Rumsey said:
Sounds very intriguing! Cheers man, going to give this a go now.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks, glad my review has made you want to see it.
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Tom said:
A good read Vinnie. I remember seeing a few trailers and promo things about it, but never got a hold of the film for whatever reason. I may return to it at some point now, I am intrigued to say the least. SLJ puts me off every now and again, he literally is in every movie ever made. lol
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vinnieh said:
Thanks, it’s one of his better roles.
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thomasjford said:
I saw it back in the day, but can’t remember too much about it to be honest.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for the comment Tom.
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scottmurray27 said:
Hey! Great review! love meeting like minded movie loving people like yourself. Drop by my blog sometime, would love to get your opinion on my reviews!
Happy reviewing!
http://futureproofmoviereviews.com
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for the comment, I will certainly check out your blog.
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thycriticman said:
Cannot remember much of this, but I do know that I watched it at some point or another. It sounds like I should refresh my memory at some point, good review dude!
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vinnieh said:
Thanks man, you really should check it out again. It’s such an underrated flick.
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charleswhitemanblogs said:
Nice review! Definitely one of Samuel L. Jacksons best performances in the last decade. This movie surprised me as well and i’ve seen it multiple times.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks, I really liked his performance here.
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a gray said:
A very powerful movie of lives passed unknown.
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vinnieh said:
Really appreciate the comment.
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emmakwall said:
I remember thinking this looked a bit seedy but I may well watch it now, based on your excellent review!
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vinnieh said:
It was advertised as seedy and dirty but it’s actually quite a deep film.
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emmakwall said:
Deep?
Sorry, sorry! I’ll shut up 🙂
I’ll watch it, thanks Vinster.
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vinnieh said:
Definitely a good film with two very great performances.
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beetleypete said:
I have a thing for Ricci. I like her unusual face, so i watched this for her. I thought it was pretty good. Not great, but much better than I had expected.
Cheers, Pete.
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vinnieh said:
I love Christina Ricci as both an actress and a woman. She really excelled here. I think many expected this movie to be really racy, when it is actually quite bruising and moving.
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beetleypete said:
Have you ever seen this? It’s a take it or leave it film, but she looks so hot as a blonde! I watched it twice in two days!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118789/
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vinnieh said:
I’m curious to see it now. Can’t say I have ever heard of it before!
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beetleypete said:
It’s a one-man project from Vincent Gallo. Quite downbeat, but she’s amazing to look at.
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vinnieh said:
I am very intrigued now. Will check if Netflix or Love Film has it.
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beetleypete said:
It’s listed on Amazon Love Film, V.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Ddvd-bypost&field-keywords=buffalo+66
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for checking that Pete.
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