Let it shine, let it shine, let is shine

Rating: 8/10 (1 March 2012)

Black Snake Moan is an exploitation film that is sort of classy and presentable. Its focus isn't on gory violence or action set pieces, but characters, their pasts, and their present. Here is a film that has great actors, and set its sights mainly on their performances rather than their actions.
The story centers around a blues singer turned farmer in the Deep South named Lazarus (Jackson) and nymphomaniac Rae (Ricci). They each pack their own emotional baggage, with Lazarus's wife cheating on him, leaving him frustrated and angry, and Rae's boyfriend Ronnie (Timberlake) leaving for deployment in the National Guard.
Rae stumbles into Lazarus's clutches, when he finds her laying beaten and mutilated at the side of the road. He takes her in and lays her on the couch, before her awakening frightened and worried. Lazarus doesn't want to hurt her, but plans to lead her away from the life of promiscuity she has chosen to pursue. She has sex with anyone, and what will happen afterwards is a mystery to us and to her.
To make sure she doesn't escape, Lazarus ties a huge metal chain around Rae's waist and the radiator. He is surrounded by thick, heavy wilderness, so it is certain no one will hear the madness unfolding. Thank goodness, because Lazarus and Rae exchange a number of four letter words and bitter dialog throughout the film, relentlessly achieving greatness in their performances.
Samuel L. Jackson is marvelous here. I've read that he spent hours learning how to perfect blues music, and Ricci walked around scantily-clad all the time and ate a very minuscule amount during filming. In order to achieve a great performance, actors/actresses must immerse themselves in the roles of their characters. Jackson and Ricci do, and that's the main reason why the film works extremely well.
Writer/Director Craig Brewer has done a fantastic job at not only showing the seamy atmosphere and troubles that exist in the Deep South, but also at creating characters we can sympathize with. Main characters we can not have an strong opinion about, show affection to, or sympathize with, in my book, are worthless characters.
Black Snake Moan is constructed well, and never sees a dry moment. It has a keen sense of grittiness and possesses a desire to go as far as it can without being too implausible or cutesy. The performances are strong, the delivery is subtle, and the atmosphere is contagious. If there was a way to depict the Dirty South as a seamy place of optimism, then it was done perfectly.
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. Directed by: Craig Brewer.