Prepare yourself and let it all out with the Blues!

Rating: 10/10 (3 March 2007)

Here we go again folks! Another Saturday night double feature which I admit it made me feel as a triple feature, but there's good news and I'll get to that.
Throughout the first half of this small marathon of 4 hours and 45 minutes dizziness was the main result, and for that I say do not get fooled by David Fincher's previous works, Seven or Fight Club, and just try to avoid the 2 hours and 40 minutes of "zodiache"; it simply hurts. Because of such a long dragging torture I will even spare any comments of the few good moments in the movie. So let's move on to the second part.
I felt the night was heading towards an endless abyss of pain but suddenly a great surprise: bliss!!! I left the theater with the exact same feeling when I first saw Pulp Fiction back in 1994. The movie Black Snake Moan will be a new classic. The ones who know me might watch the movie and think that the "music" influenced my decision to write with such emotion about it, but I guarantee you that I never had the intent to fool anyone by getting mixed feelings about my personal taste and the admiration for art (although this statement can be tricky, I understand). I try to be fair, and that's it.
The story is about loving one another which seems cheesy or corny, but is just a sea of appetizers that floods ones' soul (note Tennessee after Katrina as background). The acting is the main course in the film. And again the similar feeling I had with Pulp Fiction it is due to the extraordinary performance of Samuel L. Jackson (note some parallels with both characters in both films). Here Jackson was given the main role, not a supporting, as his previous best work, and kicks ass! And that's not it! Finally I can shout to all four corners that one the best new coming actresses have nail it! Christina Ricci is superb as the southerner white trash Ray, again her best effort yet. Perhaps due to the great characters along the story, which all actors (John Cothran Jr, etc) embodied and gave their best as well, Ricci could "let it all out", stressing and relaxing with a great sense of gravity (the blues can really be a soul healer). S. Epatha Merkerson repeats the same charm given in Lackawanna Blues and shines in her supporting role. At last, the great revelation was Orlando Bloom's cousin, Justin Timberlake. I mean, if you look at both, they are either cousins or the same person, kinda like in Adaptation, a double-imaginary-based on true events-Coehn Fargoish feeling anyway where was I? Yes, no restrictions in Timberlakes' casting.
No matter if you are a blues lover, as long as you can be open-minded for this creative new-style love story, then satisfaction is guaranteed. By the way, choose the right theater to catch this movie; a good crowd will create an even greater sensation. Forget the matinée also and try the last show.
I hope you can enjoy it as I did
Rotildo