Scribe-ls

Samuel Jackson and Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan create one of, if not the, best movies ever made.  As a messed-in-the-head trailer trash strumpet named Rae, Ricci artfully makes the viewer detest her while pitying her.  Even as her devoted boyfriend drives away to a much-anticipated chance at a way out of hillbilly hell via the military, she writhes torturedly in the grips of an uncontrollable sexual impulse that she simply must act upon.  The viewer soon learns she is the town toy, not above casually mooching some money after the event.  Rae's seriously out of control, letting herself be used and abused by any and all randy males while working on slow suicide by bottle and pill. 

Needless to say, it's shocking and disturbing.  While on the surface portraying Rae as one who loves, loves, loves her tawdry behaviors,  Ricci masterfully conveys a deep disturbance of unresolved sorrow beneath the sly, slimy, bad-girl surface.  That's probably the only reason the movie lasted more than 5 minutes at my house.  You could call the sex scenes soft porn, but they're an integral part of the story.  The graphicness is intentended to slam the viewer in the gut -- how and why is she like this? 

Samuel Jackson is Lazarus, a name not chosen idly by the writer to grace an aging and dejected blues man turned farmer.  His wife makes a very public exit from the marriage and he is devastated, a dead man walking, you might say.  Then fate intervenes in the form of an unconscious and badly beaten Rae left for dead on the country road he lives on. Now Lazarus has a purpose to enliven him:  curing Rae of her chronic cough, and upon realization of them, of the power of her demons. 

It isn't long after regaining consciousness and some bit of health that Rae attempts to seduce the lonely old man - it's long been her ticket to whatever she wanted, why would it be different now?  Lazarus is sorely tempted (Rae is half naked and well-built), but doesn't give in, opting instead to physically restrain the wickedly willful Rae and teach her to become a better person.  It's not an easy undertaking, a heroic battle of wills bespeaking all human resistance to change even when it stops the hurt.  In the process of bringing Rae back to the light, Lazarus is given new life - he picks up the guitar again and rolls out some belly-melting blues and finds a good woman of the town to love. 

It's a wonderfully moving movie with a lot to say and some out of this world music to boot.  This is not one for children or prissy people - there's nudity, rough language and rough sex.  There's also a thoughtful script with solid premises.  The end is more Euro than American, not exactly happy, but not tragic either and leaving the viewer to sort out the ever after.  This is one I'll definitely buy.