Music saves this film: makes stereos sound good

Rating: 7/10 (30 August 2009)

For men who love music and half naked women and the sexy Christina Ricci, I am surprised that there isn't a post already about Black Snake Moan. The promotion of this 2006 makes it seem like a far dirtier and raunchier movie than it really is. I don't know if even today a black man could keep a white women in his house without a getting a legal lynching, but Craig Brewer's story is a an indelible portrait of the south, poor people and the rhythm of blues that runs both of them.
Samuel Jackson is wonderful as the blues playing farmer. Like Brewer's Hustle and Flow, this movie carries an under tone of the importance of music, but in this case, it is not a means to business, but one of expression.
It is the music that saves this film. It is the love of the blues that lifts the typical Jackson character, from the strong but good man of the hood out of a simple, but hard life story into something bigger and better, for all concerned. It is the music that makes this more than a simply titillating tale. If you like Ricci's awesome performance in Monster, if you like Jackson's moral men, if you like Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, if you like movies about music, you will like this one too. It sure makes stereos sound good.