Craig Brewer's debut feature Hustle & Flow showed off his technical skills, but his choice of subject matter--a pimp who earns the audience's sympathy--left questions as to whether or not he gave any thought to the human price paid by the women exploited by men like Djay (Terrence Howard). In Black Snake Moan, Brewer puts those fears to bed.
A parable wrapped in an exploitation movie, Black Snake Moan is immensely entertaining. Christina Ricci plays Rae, in love with boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake), but unable to conquer the "itch" that has her spreading her legs all over town. When heartbroken loner Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) finds her half-naked, beaten and unconscious in front of his home, he takes her in and cares for her. As soon as Rae's awake and alert, she switches into full-throttle nymphomania. Rather than taking advantage of what's freely offered, Lazarus decides to save Rae--by chaining her to the radiator. "We done broke the fever. Now we're going to break the hold the devil's got on you."
At once sensual and spiritual, Black Snake Moan offers salvation through dirty blues and fervent prayers. There's nothing shy about this movie, with Ricci seducing everyone around her (including the audience), and Jackson unleashing the full force of his powerful personality. Each gives a mesmerizing performance. Together, they're a sticky August night, cold beer and heat lightning, with too many ways to sin and church on Sunday.
Flannery O'Connor described her approach to storytelling by saying, "you have to make your vision apparent by shock--to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the blind you draw large and startling figures." Underneath the kinky visuals and shocking premise, Brewer is actually making a serious point about the right and wrong ways that men treat women. Or, to quote Luscious Jackson, "When a man knows where he came from/He can tell me I am shameful/And I will call him supersolid."
Lazarus has no problem calling Rae shameful, because he intends to treat her the way she deserves to be treated--just because she's asking for it doesn't mean it's right to give it to her. By no means anti-sex, Black Snake Moan indicts the way that sex is taken for granted by those who would lionize Hustle and Flow's Djay. There's nothing subtle about Black Snake Moan, but the story Brewer's telling is more than a match for Ricci's half-shirt and that heavy, clanking chain. Early on, Lazarus says to someone who's seeking forgiveness for a profound wrong, "You come here to ease your heart. Well, I ain't gonna help you do that." Brewer's got a hard road for his audience, but at least he makes it sexy as heaven.
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January 8, 2008 - 4:26pm
Eloquent review. I think you pinpointed the film's psychology well, but it would have had real force if it were Timberlake (or some such young, red-blooded white male) who chained and healed Ricci without ever taking sexual advantage of her. By making the healer a virile middle-aged Black bluesman, Brewer writes a check he isn't ready to cash.