Rae (Christina Ricci) is twenty-something
white-trash girl
from Tennessee. She has serious emotional issues that manifest
themselves in an ugly, pathological nymphomania.
When her
boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) heads overseas to serve in the
army, her psychological problems come to head in a bender of drugs and
sex.
Ronnie’s supposed friend, Gill (Michael Raymond-James), drives Rae
home with a view to taking advantage of her, but when she makes fun of
his manhood, he bashes her and leaves her unconscious on back road.
Lazarus
(Samuel L Jackson) is a black farmer and former musician whose wife has
walked out on him to be with his brother. It’s one more torment added
to the hell his life has become and he is headed down his own path of
self-destruction until he finds Rae sprawled out on the road near his
property.
Nursing her back to health, he begins to suspect the
abuse and neglect that caused her mental illness and she becomes his
‘project’ – and an excuse to ignore his own problems. He even goes so
far as to chain her up in his house so she cannot continue in her
self-harming ways.
From there, these two damaged souls begin an
unlikely journey of healing, friendship and redemption. With the aid of
Lazarus’ preacher friend RL (John Cothran Jr), they gradually face down
the demons that have poisoned their pasts.
Some of the more
reserved critics will say this film is gratuitous and demeaning to
women; certainly the journalist who walked out of the screening I
attended will.
Don’t believe them.
Such elitist snobs want to pretend
these sorts of folks don’t exist, but of course they do – and director
Craig Brewer is not afraid to show them in the raw.
The result is two
complex characters that we accept in spite of the occasional
implausibility and the screenplay’s heavy religious symbolism.
Both
Jackson and Ricci are astonishing in roles that offer myriad acting
challenges, while the cinematography and pacing are well considered and
keep the story moving along. The entwining of blues music as both a
soundtrack and a character is ambitious, but that also comes off.
If Black Snake
Moan has a
weak point it is Timberlake, who has a smallish but crucial part and
can’t quite match the lofty standards his co-stars set (and his
southern accent comes and goes like the tide).
To make a rather impudent comparison, Black Snake Moan is
like Driving
Miss Daisy
pumped full of sex, drugs and profanity – the tarnished side of the
same penny.
Those who are not offended at the drop of a hat will find
an original and compelling character study without the pretension
prevalent in many indie films featuring big name stars.
Black
Snake Moan is a worthwhile viewing experience.
4 out
of 5
Black
Snake Moan Australian
release: 2nd August,
2007
Cast:Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci,
Justin Timberlake, John Cothran Jr, Michael Raymond-James Director: Craig Brewer
Website:Click
here.
