The Story:  Black Snake Moan is really about finding the right path in life. That is the deeper meaning behind everything you are seeing in this movie.

Christina Ricci apparently has a sickness where she has to have sex all the time. If she doesn’t have sex, she will go crazy.

Now, keep in mind, this movie takes place in Memphis Tennessee. Everyone talks like a hillbilly, even Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson, whose wife just recently left him, is in a pretty depressed state of mind. He is also a very religious man. He finds Ricci on the side of the road and takes her into his house. Once he realizes what her problem his, he takes it upon himself to make her right. Right meaning that he wants to cure her of her sexual sickness. He literally chains her up in his house and will not let her leave. When she asks to leave, he says “You ain’t right yet.” That is all I will say for the plot for now. 

The Review:  Overall, I thought it was very entertaining movie. The only problem is that it starts off a little too slow for me. The movie does pick up eventually, but it had a rough start where they were trying to explain who each character was. It was not bad, but it just dragged a little. It does pick up when Samuel L. Jackson actually gets her on the chains. I thought that Samuel L. Jackson did a terrific job.

The director of the film, Craig Brewer, is obviously very fascinated with the musical element of his films. (He directed one of my favorite films of 2005: Hustle and Flow.) This time around, the musical genre is blues. Jackson’s character keeps a guitar in his house and every once in a while, busts it out and starts to play/sing the blues. I actually had a chance to sit down with Craig Brewer, the director of the film, a few weeks back to discuss the film. He was talking about how music is very important to telling his stories.  In this film, music becomes almost another character. (Believe it or not, the blues actually becomes one of the curing factors for Christina Ricci’s character in Black Snake Moan.)

I will say this right now that I have NEVER seen anything like this movie in my life. You will be sitting there wondering what the hell is going on. It was funny when I sat down with Craig to talk about it and I told him that I had never seen anything like it. He kind of laughed and started naming off other movies like Faster Pussy Cat Kill Kill.

When it comes to this sickness that Ricci has, the director mentioned that it was mirroring as sickness that him and wife actually had. Much like Ricci’s character in the film, Brewer said that he would be somewhere and he would start “shaking…started sweating…and my heart just started pounding and pounding.” Brewer thought he was going to have a heart attack.

Referring to which character most portrayed Craig Brewer, he stated “I’m not Sam Jackson. I’m that sexy girl (Christini Ricci).

The Verdict:  I know all of this sounds really weird.  Trust me when I say that you have never seen a movie like this. Even though it had the slow beginning, I really did like the film because it was something different. I feel that it is a good movie to see as a matinee, hence the 4 BDK rating.