Black Snake Moan"Black Snake Moan" is an old blues song recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson back in the 20s and has been rerecorded by many other blues artists since then. It is a smart choice for a movie and opens up with an excellent clip of Son House talking about the blues (I would like to know where this clip came from). In the movie, Samuel Jackson plays Lazarus, an old bluesman suffering from a recent divorce, decides to chain up Rae, a young vibrant southern lady who just happens to jump at anything in pants and played by Christina Ricci and her panties, to a radiator to cure her of her lowdown ways. So in the mix we have Samuel Jackson, Christina Ricci and her panties (and there is not an opportunity missed to show them in case you are wondering), a radiator, a husband away from home (and inflicted with a really stupid plot device so the movie could be wrapped up in a nice happy way), a lot of bible thumping, lot of sex and immature behavior, and the blues. Of these the ones that come through are Samuel Jackson and the blues. This film reminded me of a really well acted 70s exploitation flicks. I used to have a video of a movie called The Best of Sex and Violence that was nothing but trailers from these types of films (The Single Girls and The Disco Godfather for example). This movie is better than those movies, but springs from the same idea: "See Christina Ricci's Panties, See the Black Man Chain Up The White Woman to the Steaming Radiator, See the Naked Football Sequence". If Black Snake Moan rises about an exploitation movie it is because of Samuel Jackson's acting, not because of anything in the plot. Also there were several choices that help it along the way, like including the Son House excerpts that open up the movie.
  If you were wondering when Samuel Jackson was going to get a chance to dig his teeth into a part like he did in Pulp Fiction, then you definitely should go see this film, because he is a joy to watch though you do get the impression he is actually better than the material he is working with. Next to him, Christina Ricci is just out of her depth as an actress. Overall the film is well acted, and the film also looks good. The music works well, though I would have though a more careful selection of music could have enhanced it further, there is an awful lot of good blues music to choose from. The dialogue is good and a cut above the norm with a few good sharp zingers here and there. Just to give you a feel for the picture, 99% of the picture is on the sinning part of the plot and about 30 seconds is the redemption part that is thrown in so you can feel like you are not watching JUST an exploitation picture. If you want to see an uplifting human fable, you might want to look elsewhere, but for what it is, the movie is pretty solid and entertaining.
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