Equally sultry and silly

Rating: 8/10 (14 October 2007)

In the interests of honesty, I'll state up front that my main (about 98%) interest in Black Snake Moan was the fact that it had Christina Ricci in it. Mostly naked. Okay, so, that said, let's get on with the film. This obviously has one of the most outlandish concepts that's been filmed in recent years: ageing, bitter, blues singer chains up trashy, abused nymphomaniac in his house in order to "save" them both. I mean, really, who greenlit that?! Anyway, the end product is oddly tender, with a romantic message that somewhat flies in the face of the salacious set up. Sam Jackson is excellent throughout, and Ricci is both brave and effective (and, at times, unintelligible  I had to use subtitles once or twice to translate her drawl). It's been accused of copping out at the end, but such an odd story ought to be seen as a sort of fairy tale, and in that context it works and is, all round, pretty good. Oh, and Christina Ricci gets mostly naked!