Review of Black Snake Moan (2006) by Jacob G — 05 Feb 2014

I got a certain impression of what this movie was back from when I saw a trailer for it, oh back in 2007 or so. And I've carried that impression with me up until now. And it's a very different movie from what my 7-year-old impression was.

So genuinely trying to figure out how to react to Black Snake Moan is hard. It didn't do what I was expecting it to. Here's what was awesome:

1. The music, which is blues heavy, fits the over all tone of the film very well. It's played multiple times in the film--Samuel Jackson on his guitar, singing along, culminating in some delightful "live" performances.

2. The intentions of Samuel L. Jackson's character. While I could quibble a lot with some of the way he executed those intentions, there is an aura of goodness surrounding his character, even as the flaws and warts were not entirely exercized.

3. Christina Ricci did a great job of presenting her wild child character and made her transformation believable and honest.

I might have to watch this again sometime and see how a second viewing goes down.