Packs a lot of punch but doesn't pull it all together

Rating: 8/10 (18 March 2019)

First off, this Black Snake Moan probably has the best written reviews I've seen yet. Seems like everyone is trying to capture that bluesy Southern voice in their writing to good success. This film does have a rhythm to it that does get you talking in that voice, thinking in that voice and feeling in that voice. It's got a catchy thing going and a lot of kick like cayenne pepper but at the end of the day isn't as inspiring as it wants to be. Not to say you don't feel for the characters or like where they get to from where they come. But like blues there's a part that doesn't quite make sense even if you can feel it. And like a raw tune there's some loose ends and some of them have twisted together but the others, nah. I was waiting for a final collision at the end which doesn't come. I was wanting a deeper low and a higher high to carry off the film to a deep and resounding impact with a catharsis I didn't quite get. And in this film about addiction you do want that catharsis somewhere even if someone has to get a little more bruised to get there. I'm giving this film a 7 but it's a 7.5 leading to an 8/10. I'll recommend but the film is not the classic I wanted it to be.
That said this movie does hit right in lots of places. Others call Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) the weak link of the film who should be cut out, but to me he was a believable weakling who I nonetheless rooted very much for, same as Christina Ricci's character Rae. I call him a weakling because he has a very big crutch on the inside-severe anxiety-which does make him act out of both "malice" and "compassion" as another reviewer very rightly said of all the characters. I like that Black Snake Moan doesn't put rose colored glasses on the weaknesses it's characters have. The preacher in the film R.J. Is always gone on about each and every one of us having sin and the trouble in most films is they don't deliver on they words but this film at least does. Changed my mind. Giving this film an 8/10. In a way this film does hit home even though not immediately in an impressive way, but it gets there on reflection.
There is some very sexual contexts in this filmof course but actually it's not that graphic. You get the idea in dream like visions more than you are shown it. And with ideas like childhood sexual abuse you do want to allow privacy there. I think this film does nod to Rae's sexual exploits with some nudity and white drawers it seems like she was wearing for a couple days but there is a dignity to where it's important and if you know what the film is about you know what you're getting yourself into, but there isn't much of what I would call gratuitous. So good on the filmmakers for that.
This film has great tone and flavor and sound and rather good consistency, development and execution, especially in giving the characters their shade and light (and some good cinematography and editing to boot), but I did wish for the full meal rather than a very good appetizer. There are some cut inserts of a blues man talking about the blues and what it does to people, and to me Black Snake Moan is like a blues song in its stark poetry and sometimes mumbling and slurring and a feeling about calloused fingers and the steel string. It's an artistic success but probably would've worked better either longer or shorter and it hits an in-between. Watch if you want a good story and are a Samuel L Jackson fan because he does say "motherfu--" while hitting up a purple guitar.