Many may remember writer/director Craig Brewer’s previous film; Hustle and Flow which earned an Academy Award for “Best Original Song” in 2006 (Also received a “Best Actor” nomination for Terrence Howard). But you are likely to know little or nothing about his newest film, Black Snake Moan, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake.

Brewer, a native of Memphis Tennessee, creates a dramatic southern gothic that is all about religion, redemption, culture, and the blues. Black Snake Moan tells the story of Lazarus (Jackson) and Rae (Ricci) whose worlds connect when Lazarus, an aging farmer and ex blues musician finds a half-naked Rae on the side of the road beaten nearly to death and very ill (an allusion to the Good Samaritan). He discovers that Rae is a nymphomaniac and decides that it is his duty to try and “save” her. He does this not necessarily out of a religious mindset, but out of a need to have something to live for, to make his life meaningful.

As Lazarus nurses her back to health, he connects with Rae in an almost father-daughter way. Being aware that she may not want to be helped, he chains her to a radiator to “detox” her from her lustful desires. “God seen fit to put you in my path, and I aim to cure you of your wickedness” he tells her when she wakes. “We done broke the fever, now we gone break the hold that the Devil got on ya!” Inevitably, Rae (unsuccessfully) tries to escape and eventually settles in to Lazarus’s home and begins to form a bond with him.

When Rae’s boyfriend, Ronnie (Timberlake) returns prematurely from military service, he discovers Rae’s new “life”. This causes some turmoil between Ronnie and Lazarus — before everyone comes to realizations about who they are and what they truly want from life. Incidentally, Justin Timberlake is a surprisingly good actor. This is his second major film role. The first being, Alpha Dog — which I definitely recommend as well.

At its heart, this movie is about life, love, and music. Brewer calls this his second in a series of southern “musicals” (even though there are no random outbursts of song). Black Snake Moan really is centered around the music that is a part of life for all these characters and the culture. Brewer dedicated this movie to one of the greatest Delta Blues Musicians ever, R.L. Burnside who passed away in late 2005. The soundtrack is loaded with delta blues music and includes a couple of R.L.’s songs as well as music by North Mississippi Allstars, The Black Keys, and four performances by Samuel L. Jackson. Even if you don’t think you’ll like the movie, you should see it for the music… or just buy the soundtrack. It is absolutely phenomenal.

With solid performances by Jackson, Ricci, and Timberlake, this movie stands on its cinematic merits as well. It is extremely well written, produced, and directed, and the characters are well developed. Mall Rats writer/director Kevin Smith, as a guest critic on Ebert & Roeper, said that it was “one of the top movies of the year” and he compared Craig Brewer with Nobel Prize winning southern author, William Faulkner.

I definitely recommend this movie, and it is a shame that it did not receive a wider audience in theatrical release.

Here are some other reviews for Black Snake Moan:

Rotten Tomatoes

imdb User Reviews

ReelViews.net Review

This entry was posted on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Movies, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.