Indie Highlight: Black Snake Moan

Definitely one of the more hyped films that played this year at Sundance, Black Snake Moan is the third feature film from writer/director Craig Brewer, who broke out in 2005 with Hustle and Flow (and helped make history when the Best Original Song Oscar went to Tennessee-native rappers Three 6 Mafia and their song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”).

Samuel L. Jackson stars as a beaten-down (his wife’s left him for his younger brother) blues guitarist Lazarus who finds half-beaten-to-death (and half naked) Rae (Christina Ricci) on a roadside near his farm. He nurses her back to physical health, and then sets his sights on curing her of what’s ailing her soul – inner turmoil that has manifested into Rae’s cycle of destructive behavior and sex addiction (which sounds funnier when you refer to it as an “itch,” as in “She’s got the itch!”). And what better way to keep Rae under control than locking a huge chain around her waist and attaching it to the radiator?

It’s great hearing Samuel L. Jackson quoting the Bible again. No one has ever quite put the fear of God in me since Jackson gave life to the scripture spouting Jules in Pulp Fiction, until now. And like Jules, Lazarus mixes his scripture with healthy amounts of shouting and profanity (“I saved your life, I can say whatever the fuck I want!”). As a filmmaker, Brewer seems to have no weaknesses. As a writer he has a brilliant sense for character and an ear for dialogue that is simultaneously brash and stylized, and true-to-life. As a director, he has the vision to bring the script to life, and knows what he needs from his cast (who would have ever thought Justin Timberlake would be holding his own as an anxiety-ridden, over-emotional army-reject?). But possibly his most unique talent is his musical choices. Like Hustle and Flow in which rap music was an essential part of the plot, music is an important element of Black Snake Moan, though this time, it’s not rap, but the blues. The film’s best moment is indeed its title track, “Black Snake Moan.” Part spoken word, part bellowing blues, Lazarus performs for Rae during a lightning storm, the power fading in and out, light battling with dark, faith battling wickedness, Lazarus’s voice and guitar winning out over all in an electric-powered exorcism.