Camden New Journal - Movies: Black Snake Moan

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 17 May 2007

Samuel Jackson plays God-fearing Lazarus

Perils of pent-up passion

BLACK SNAKE MOAN
Directed by Craig Brewer
Certificate 15

SHE smokes joints, pops pills and is notorious as the town tramp. Rae (Christina Ricci) looks 15 going on 30, a wild child who is out of control in the Deep South where she has been raised in trailer-trash territory.
Her boyfriend (Justin Timberlake) goes off into the army.
But in his absence she can’t hold down her own sexual appetite and slips back into her old ways of promiscuity and drugs.
After being savagely beaten up by one of the local hard cases, she is rescued by middle-aged black farmer Lazarus (Samuel L Jackson) who takes her to his remote shack to nurse her back to health.
God-fearing and alone, Lazarus is a one-time blues singer who still strums a mean guitar at Bojo’s Juke Box saloon.
He decides to teach Rae to mend her ways – chaining her to the radiator like a dog while he tries to open her heart to a new way of life.
The result is a powerful and at times disturbing message about race, religion and loneliness, as director Craig Brewer unleashes a sexually charged drama of pent-up passions and redemption.
Jackson and Ricci produce spell-binding performances in the most demanding roles of their lives, backed by a
pulsating sound-track which alone is worth the ticket.

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