Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: Early 30s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

BLACK SNAKE MOAN (R)

MOVIE BIASES: Haven't you always wanted to chain up a white girl???

MAJOR PLAYERS: Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes on a Plane), Christina Ricci
(Sleepy Hollow), Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog), and writer/director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow)

How do you follow an Oscar-nominated film about a pimp turned rapper? Why you make a film about a white girl chained up by a black man in the South, of course… Beyond this salacious setup – and the playfully inflammatory marketing – Brewer proves there's more than one hit to his wonder.

"I don't love you no mo'." Ouch. Lazarus (Jackson) finds himself a cuckolded husband by himself for the first time in years on his remote, smalltown Tennessee farm. Rae (Ricci) finds herself alone after her soulmate Ronnie (Timberlake) goes off for the military. But Rae "got an itch" as a barely functioning nymphomaniac who, when she's not coughing up a lung due to some undiagnosed sickness, is self-medicating through sensuality. When Lazarus finds her bruised, literally half-naked body by the side of the road, he takes her into his home, determined to exorcise the demons inside of her – even if it means chaining her horny ass to a radiator. In ways unexpected and unusual, they begin to learn, and heal, each other – to a nifty blues soundtrack.

A paean to old school, Southern blues (Brewer has a thing for the influence of black music, lucky for us), "Moan" is as original a work as you may see all year, in that it features an outrageous premise, grounds it firmly in reality, and opens itself (and yourself) up to a musical, spiritual, and emotional journey of two wounded souls.
Musical? Lazarus is a semi-retired blues man who may or may not seek redemption through song. Spiritual? "God has seen fit to put you in my path," Lazarus intones to a charged up Rae, who's used to using carnality as currency. "It is up to me to break you of your wickedness." And the emotional piece is a literal and figurative bond they share: Rae is physically CHAINED to his radiator! Brewer's
direction is audaciously feral yet tender, his script spiritual yet darkly humorous; it's one of the more original, inventive, well-written scripts in some time. Besides pleasantly showing faithful representations of older black folk (glad to have you, S. Epatha Merkerson as the local pharmacist who's sweet on Samuel L.), Brewer
explores the painfully symbiotic relationships of two damaged beings trying to salve their hurt and pain with each other, while playfully messing with our own expectations of such a taboo's taboo relationship (a May-December, white-black, rural SOUTHERN relationship?!? Somebody call Mister Charlie!).

That's what makes "Moan" so great – it's unexpected. After waving guns and spouting catchphrases in his last couple of movies, Samuel L. Jackson is back to ACTING. Dipped in a deep-fried accent, gray beard, gold grill, and looking older than we've ever seen him before (i.e. his age – the man IS 58 after all), Sam anchors the film with his wifebeater-soaked, blues-influenced moral rectitude, with an edge. A
gloriously naked and surprisingly sensuous Christina Ricci gives a fearless, fabulous performance as the sickly, self-destructive nympho Rae; her life is "either cough drops or condoms." No, it's not fearless that she's running around in her panties and a peek-a-boo, Jennifer Bealsish crop top the whole movie. With her dirty blonde hair, misbehaving green eyes, and a turnstile for legs, Ricci absolutely humanizes, three-dimensionalizes a woman who treats herself worse than recycled white trash – she's the compost of white trash, decomposing and disintegrating in front of our very eyes. Her dependence on Ronnie (an utterly believable and somewhat impressive Justin Timberlake) for balance in her life isn't just a therapist's
nightmare, it's a true, bilateral dependency that, like Voltron, is stronger when they're together than when they're apart. (THE REEL DEAL is NOT recommending or endorsing co-dependency as a healthy relationship strategy but, in its own way, it works for this onscreen couple. – Editor's Note) Once you add Sam's aching Lazarus to the mix and both actors bring out the best in each other – just like their
characters.

"Black Snake Moan" is a beautiful, painful movie, one that exalts beauty through its pain. The first great movie of the year, make sure you "see fit to put it in your path" as well. But leave your chains at home.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at EJAce1@gmail.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: Early 30s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare BLACK SNAKE MOAN (R) MOVIE BIASES: Haven't you always wanted to chain up a white girl??? MAJOR PLAYERS: Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes on a Plane), Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow), Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog), and writer/director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) How do you follow an Oscar-nominated film about a pimp turned rapper? Why you make a film about a white girl chained up by a black man in the South, of course… Beyond this salacious setup – and the playfully inflammatory marketing – Brewer proves there's more than one hit to his wonder. "I don't love you no mo'." Ouch. Lazarus (Jackson) finds himself a cuckolded husband by himself for the first time in years on his remote, smalltown Tennessee farm. Rae (Ricci) finds herself alone after her soulmate Ronnie (Timberlake) goes off for the military. But Rae "got an itch" as a barely functioning nymphomaniac who, when she's not coughing up a lung due to some undiagnosed sickness, is self-medicating through sensuality. When Lazarus finds her bruised, literally half-naked body by the side of the road, he takes her into his home, determined to exorcise the demons inside of her – even if it means chaining her horny ass to a radiator. In ways unexpected and unusual, they begin to learn, and heal, each other – to a nifty blues soundtrack. A paean to old school, Southern blues (Brewer has a thing for the influence of black music, lucky for us), "Moan" is as original a work as you may see all year, in that it features an outrageous premise, grounds it firmly in reality, and opens itself (and yourself) up to a musical, spiritual, and emotional journey of two wounded souls. Musical? Lazarus is a semi-retired blues man who may or may not seek redemption through song. Spiritual? "God has seen fit to put you in my path," Lazarus intones to a charged up Rae, who's used to using carnality as currency. "It is up to me to break you of your wickedness." And the emotional piece is a literal and figurative bond they share: Rae is physically CHAINED to his radiator! Brewer's direction is audaciously feral yet tender, his script spiritual yet darkly humorous; it's one of the more original, inventive, well-written scripts in some time. Besides pleasantly showing faithful representations of older black folk (glad to have you, S. Epatha Merkerson as the local pharmacist who's sweet on Samuel L.), Brewer explores the painfully symbiotic relationships of two damaged beings trying to salve their hurt and pain with each other, while playfully messing with our own expectations of such a taboo's taboo relationship (a May-December, white-black, rural SOUTHERN relationship?!? Somebody call Mister Charlie!). That's what makes "Moan" so great – it's unexpected. After waving guns and spouting catchphrases in his last couple of movies, Samuel L. Jackson is back to ACTING. Dipped in a deep-fried accent, gray beard, gold grill, and looking older than we've ever seen him before (i.e. his age – the man IS 58 after all), Sam anchors the film with his wifebeater-soaked, blues-influenced moral rectitude, with an edge. A gloriously naked and surprisingly sensuous Christina Ricci gives a fearless, fabulous performance as the sickly, self-destructive nympho Rae; her life is "either cough drops or condoms." No, it's not fearless that she's running around in her panties and a peek-a-boo, Jennifer Bealsish crop top the whole movie. With her dirty blonde hair, misbehaving green eyes, and a turnstile for legs, Ricci absolutely humanizes, three-dimensionalizes a woman who treats herself worse than recycled white trash – she's the compost of white trash, decomposing and disintegrating in front of our very eyes. Her dependence on Ronnie (an utterly believable and somewhat impressive Justin Timberlake) for balance in her life isn't just a therapist's nightmare, it's a true, bilateral dependency that, like Voltron, is stronger when they're together than when they're apart. (THE REEL DEAL is NOT recommending or endorsing co-dependency as a healthy relationship strategy but, in its own way, it works for this onscreen couple. – Editor's Note) Once you add Sam's aching Lazarus to the mix and both actors bring out the best in each other – just like their characters. "Black Snake Moan" is a beautiful, painful movie, one that exalts beauty through its pain. The first great movie of the year, make sure you "see fit to put it in your path" as well. But leave your chains at home. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at EJAce1@gmail.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2007, Edwardo Jackson