Great, great film

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2007)

I went into this movie thinking it would be a fun, goofy exploitation flick. Thankfully, I was wrong.
This is a movie about two people who need to find each other in order to find the redemption they so desperately need. The way we're told this is subtle and (I think) beautiful.
At one point in the movie, Lazarus explains the reals source of his pain to Rae. We thought it was his wife running off with his brother, but it's really the fact that his wife aborted their child. I imagine that's where his marriage started going wrong, leading his wife to look elsewhere for what she needed.
Later in the movie, Rae confronts her mother about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather, which is the root cause of her pain, anxiety and compulsive behavior. In response, her mother expresses the regret she's had that she never aborted the pregnancy that brought Rae into the world.
Those two scenes are the key to the movie. Lazarus is a parent in need of a child, and Rae is a child in need of a parent. The chain with which Lazarus restrains Rae becomes the parental discipline that she never received. Just like a child, she resists at first but comes to appreciate it. It comes to a point where clutching the chain eases the compulsive desire that periodically overcomes her. And when the chain comes off, she doesn't run. She also doesn't engage in any more compulsive sexual behavior, even in a sweaty roadhouse filled with sexually charged blues music and sensual dancing.
Combine the chain with the prescription cough medicine Lazarus cons the pharmacist into giving him, and Rae finally has the two things that she's never received from her parents and which every child needs: discipline and loving care.
That's what the movie's about: a father and child finding each other. It's a sweet story expertly told with a lot of grit, a fair dose of humor and a lot of heart.
I also loved the non-judgmental minister. His character was the truest expression of Christian love that I've seen in a movie in a very long time... maybe ever. To put a character like that in a movie that doesn't shy away from portraying some very uncomfortable subject matter is a somewhat strange and beautiful thing. We are spiritual and profane beings, and so is this film.
Admittedly, this movie's not for everyone. For a thinking adult, though, it can be a great experience.