Black Snake Moan - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
WRITER-director Craig Brewer became something of a sensation following his Sundance hit Hustle & Flow, which earned leading man Terrence Howard a surprise Oscar nomination in 2006.
He returns to Sundance in 2007 with Black Snake Moan, which is billed as “another pulsing journey into the heart of a southern musician”. Whereas his debut was about hip-hop, Black Snake taps into the essence of the blues to tell the story of a man hell-bent on saving a lost soul, as well as himself in the process.
Lying beaten on the side of the road in a small Tennessee town is Rae (Christina Ricci), a scantily clad young woman who has developed an insatiable “itch” for sex.
Her rescuer is Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), an ex-blues guitarist who’s used to life’s relentless refrains of trouble and sorrow. Desperate for a change himself, Lazarus goes to extremes to “cure” Rae of her wicked ways.
But in order to get to the bottom of Rae’s problems, Lazarus must face his own demons.
The Sundance website credits Brewer with being “a virtuoso at blending music into his films” and claims that Black Snake Moan “pulsates with the beats and rhythms of pain, love, sex, death and life”.
Both leads reportedly engage in a brave on-screen duet of charged emotions and intense physicality.
“All this combines with rousing imagery that both titillates and challenges to help Black Snake Moan unfold a raw and revealing morality tale that doesn’t deal in black and white but rather transcendent shades of blue,” adds Sundance scribe Trevor Groth.
The trailer certainly looks interesting, with Ricci and Jackson on credible form. Whether it’s exploitative remains to be seen, particularly as Ricci spends most of her time in a skimpy vest and white knickers.
But Brewer maintains: “This is a movie where we’re taking some of the most sexual and racially charged imagery and putting it into a movie where you look deeper.”
The film co-stars a certain Justin Timberlake and is due to open in UK cinemas on May 18, 2007.