Black Snake Moan: A Review
I was quite impressed by writer/director Craig Brewer’s breakthrough film Hustle & Flow. This tale of a pimp climbing the ladder of success towards rap stardom managed to be
original in presentation even as it clung to old-school success story structure. It was well acted, gtittily shot, and brilliantly edited.
When I heard his next film would star Sam Jackson and the always under-rated Christina Ricci, I was excited.
Black Snake Moan (the title comes from a Blind Lemon blues song) is a deeply Southern film, with roots only a lifelong Southerner could recognize.
The exploitive sounding plot synopsis is pure Southern Gothic come on. An aging black man keeps a sex addicted white girl chained to his radiator in an attempt to cure her of her nymphomania.
Of course, in proper Flannery O’Conner true Southern Gothic style, nothing is what it seems. You’ll have to watch it to see why.
If I can fault Brewer at all it’s that he wimps out charachterizing the pillwhore Rae. It seems he only knows such creatures in a second hand fashion. I know them as friends, and he sort of trivializes their existence. He means well, but he has his head up his ass.
Well made, brilliantly acted, worth watching.
