The American South channeled through music gets resurrected yet again via Craig Brewer, director of ‘Hustle & Flow,’ with this slow-burn, blues-influenced, modern day exploitation film where Christina Ricci gets her sexual demons exorcised by former blues player Samuel L. Jackson.
Whereas hip-hop and rap was the flow behind ‘Hustle & Flow,’ Brewer injects a healthy does of country-fried blues into his current fable that focuses on dual redemption rather than rags-to-riches. He also drops the more ostentatious camera work of ‘Hustle & Flow’ to settle on a more exploitation-inspired still camera where one can fully digest the charged imagery without the risk of being taken out of the film by camera movement.
‘Black Snake Moan’ is one of the more audacious Hollywood films to come out in a while, with a sometimes nasty, exploitative, misogynist tale that sees just how much it can get away with. Sex & nudity, profanity, race relations – all the button pushers are here and at full Southern steam ahead - A 70s B-pic that just happens to be fashioned with A-list talent. Christina Ricci, particularly, is a revelation here, portraying a character that could easily dip into camp (and no doubt does at times depending on your POV) but remains ultimately sympathetic throughout the pic. I was reminded of Carroll Baker’s fabulous performance in the similarly sleazy ‘Baby Doll.’
The film, set in and around a small country Tennessee town, where we find various old chaps sitting in rocking chairs in front of the feed store to chat up or eyeball ominously anyone who walks by. You know, that kind of small town. The film opens with a charged sex scene between the Iraq-bound National Guard enlistee Ronnie (Justin Timberlake, not that bad surprisingly) and the epitome of trailer trash, Rae (Ricci) who have a final big bang before his departing.
Once he’s gone, we see her immediately come under an ‘itch,’ she falls to ground, squirming and writhing, coming under the spell of some unseen demon. The immediate cure comes from a local black drug dealer Tehronne (David Banner), where she then becomes pill and alcohol induced at a tailgate party and gives herself to anybody that’s around. A poor choice of words finds the end of her night on the side of the road beaten and battered.
These opening scenes are cut with how life is shaping up for the appropriately named Lazarus (Jackson adopting gray hair and a beard), a farmer who formerly gave up the blues to find religion and peace with his wife. When his wife runs off with his brother, Lazarus also gets an itch, an itch to get out the guitar…
Before he can purify himself through his blues, though, he finds another way to cleanse himself. Finding Rae on the side of the road, he takes her in only to be horrified by her unbridled, crazy antics where he chains her to his radiator. Finding out from Tehronne about her “illness”, he decides to become her salvation, to “cure you of your wickedness”.
A clever role-reversal twist on Southern slavery, we now have a death & brimstone preaching African-American man with a white trash girl kept in chains in his house. Rae’s immediate response, with the exception of running full strength to the edge of a chain like a dog with the expected results, is to offer herself to him in exchange for freedom. But Lazarus is having none of it and personally takes it upon himself to break Rae of her sickness…again like housetraining a dog.
As Lazarus slowly earns her confidence and indeed becomes a paternal figure to her, the father she never had, her behavior, her itch, slowly subsides. The midsection of the pic slows down considerably where Laz has an ongoing flirty relationship with a nice gal from town (S.Epatha Merkerson) and introduces Rae to the local preacher (John Cothran Jr.) where he draws her into exorcising conversations about her issues.
Two extraordinary music scenes make an appearance in the middle act, with Laz picking up his guitar to give Rae a requested private concert where thunder and rain pound in the background as Laz soulfully picks away at the titular blues tune. The second rollicking sequence and the sexiest in the film has Laz play in public at a local bar for the first time in many years where a somewhat redemptive Rae dances with a sexy, but innocent energy.
Like ‘Hustle & Flow,’ the third act of the film levels off into a slightly disappointing conclusion with the return of Ronnie and a heartwarming finishing sequence that confirms the difficulty of effectively ending a film where the middle act finds a half-naked nymphomaniac in chains.
Ricci drags the film forward with an almost effortless performance, giant eyes peering out from dirty blond hear situated on a lithe, skinny body usually only covered in white panties and a cut-off top adorned with the confederate flag. The majority of the film has her insatiable, animalistic bitch in heat, looking for her next prey. Scenes of past abuse, and confrontations with her mother give light to the problem and as she progresses through the film, the carnal appetite slowly gives way.
As the scripture-quoting in one scene, down and dirty blues playing in another Lazarus, Samuel L. Jackson is, of course, perfect in the role. From intense rage, to a paternal gentleness to the demon-exorcising verve of playing the blues, Jackson never hits a false not. Timberlake, in his few scenes, is good but I still found him slightly distracting in the film, an issue I doubt he will ever recover from i.e. what the hell is the guy that’s bringing sexy back doing in this great film?
The film is presented in an AVC encoded high-def transfer with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and the film looks amazing. The warm color palette of the film only helps the crisp image with just a smidgen of appropriate grain. Every bead of sweat, every drop of rain, even the steam melts off the screen. One of the best HD transfers I’ve seen so far.
The Special Features are the same as the SD DVD. First up is an audio commentary with Craig Brewer and he goes back and forth between technical details and fun on-set anecdotes – a easy listen.
Next are five deleted scenes with optional commentary from writer/director Craig Brewer, which end up proving to be a fascinating watch, and the scenes were also upgraded to HD as an added bonus. Next is a 12-minute featurette ‘Rooted in the Blues’ which, of course, focuses on the music and how Brewer approaches his films as musicals and details some of the training Sam Jackson underwent for the film as well as the real musicians behind the music.
‘The Black Snake Moan’ covers the great musical sequence of Laz singing the titular tune amidst a thunderstorm. ‘Conflicted: The Making of…’ is a half hour look at the various elements of the film from the script to the events that led to Sam Jackson taking part. The hi-def trailer and a photo gallery sum up the extras.
One of the better films I’ve seen this year, the movie is driven forward by the infinitely fascinating performance of Ricci, the great Blues soundtrack and a subject matter that is at once audacious, vulgar, provocative, steamy and tender. A solid group of extras and a great HD transfer adds to an already highly recommended film.
Black Snake Moan [HD DVD] is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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