Jackson Booth-Millard I remembered the title of this film, which is derived from the 1927 Blind Lemon Jefferson song, mainly because of the leading actor in it, I also knew the story had something to do with music, I read more about it, it certainly sounded intriguing. Basically Lazarus Redd (Samuel L. Jackson) a deeply religious farmer and former blues guitarist, and Rae Doole (Christina Ricci) is a young self-destructive sex addict. Lazarus has been left bitter and angry since his wife and his brother had an affair, while Rae's roughneck Guardsman boyfriend Ronnie Morgan (Justin Timberlake) leaves for deployment, in preparation for a tour of duty in Iraq. In Ronnie's absence, Rae indulges in bouts of promiscuity and drug use, during one of her binges Ronnie's friend Gill Morton (Michael Raymond-James) tries to take advantage of her. Rae starts laughing at Gill's advances, he severely beats her, believing her to be dead, he dumps and leaves her for dead, wearing only a shirt and underwear, at the side of the road and drives away. The next morning, Lazarus finds Rae unconscious in the road, he brings her into his house to nurse her back to health. Lazarus sees Tehronne (David Banner), hearing Rae speak his name, assuming he beat her, he explains Rae's promiscuous reputation. Over the next few days, Rae occasionally wakes, delirious with fever, and makes many attempts to flee, so Lazarus chains her to the radiator to keep from running away. Rae regains her wits, but Lazarus tells her he will not release her until she is healed of her sinful ways, he sees it as his spiritual duty to cure her of her demons. Rae continues her attempts to escape, and even briefly has sex with a teenage boy who helps on the farm. Lazarus' pastor and close friend, R.L. (John Cothran, Jr.), visits Lazarus at his house and discovers that Lazarus is imprisoning Rae, he tries to reason with him, but things calm down and they share a meal together. Rae eventually comes to tolerate her position, Lazarus buys her a conservative dress to wear, he plays guitar for her, and feeds her home-cooked meals. Ronnie returns to town after being discharged from the National Guard due to his severe anxiety disorder. He searches for Rae who has disappeared, Gill informs him that she has been cheating on him with many men, Robbie attacks Gill, steals his truck and continues searching for her. In the morning, Lazarus frees Rae, deciding that has no authority to pass judgement on her, she chooses to stay with him on her own will. Rae and Lazarus take a trip into town, where Rae confronts her mother Sandy (Kim Richards) about the sexual abuse she suffered from her mother's partner, this encounter turns into a brutal argument. Meanwhile, Lazarus has formed a close friendship and potential romantic connection with the local pharmacist, Angela (S. Epatha Merkerson). Lazarus decides to return to the stage for a blues concert at a local bar, which Rae attends. Ronnie spots Rae and follows her to Lazarus' house, he enters holding a gun and starts beating Lazarus, but he talks him down and summons the pastor. Ronnie and Rae reconcile and decide they are strong together than apart and get married, to the delight of Lazarus. While driving away, Ronnie suffers a panic attack and Rae has one of her spells, but they pull themselves together and resolve to take care of each other. Also starring John Cothran as Reverend R.L., Adriane Lenox as Rose Woods, Neimus K. Williams as Lincoln and Leonard L. Thomas as Deke Woods. Jackson gives an intense performance as the God-fearing man, Ricci oozes raw sexuality as the beautiful but troubled scantily dressed nymphomaniac, and Timberlake gets his moments as the equally troubled soldier. This is essentially a Deep South melodrama, a questionable story, especially the method in helping someone go cold turkey, but a refreshing morality tale exploring race, sex and the redemptive power of music, the blues playing is nice as well, it has its clichés, but overall it is an interesting drama. Worth watching!

bayupahleza Watch it first in 2018, expecting another cynical and grumpy black man, as Samuel l Jackson always showed in every movies. But surprisingly this time wasn't. Black snake moans is a well written movies, that I enjoyed every seconds since the beginning. A simple story about everyone has their own problem, and find their way to get rid that black snake. But you can expect there will be twist, because it's hardly to believe jackson will go in normal way. Beside Jackson, I've got to tell you Ricci performance was outstanding even I'm kinda to start liking justin's acting after this movie. One thing that need to redefine is that stupid poster, this is not a porn/bsm movies, and yet the poster trying to convince it does.

classicsoncall You can always expect a competent performance from Samuel L. Jackson, but Christina Ricci is simply outstanding here in her role as the white trash town whore Rae, devastated by her boyfriend's enlistment in the Army. Some will see this as a sexploitation film, what with Ricci's nearly naked body on display most of the time, and the theatrical poster suggesting a bondage theme to titillate potential movie goers. The picture itself is a bit more complex than that, examining the fragile relationship between a down and out former blues man and the woman he's attempting to cure of her sex addiction. What didn't quite ring true for me was the idea that Lazarus (Jackson) didn't know who Rae was when he found her by the side of the road. Seems like everyone else in town knew about her and her sordid reputation. For her part, Rae's unbridled lust to get it on with anything that moved seemed seriously hyped; that scene suggesting her seduction of young Lincoln (Neimus K. Williams) went clearly over the top. This isn't the type of film one seeks out for it's entertainment value because it's pretty bleak most of the time, though the redemption theme gets to play out in due course, even if the credibility factor gets stretched to the max. I thought the story was a good one, and if you're a fan of blues music, the bar scene when Jackson brings out the Gibson ES-335 is a cool bonus.

ArT_of_InSaNiTy Sitting about bored i decided to search Netflix for a film and whilst scrolling along the title "Black Snake Moan" caught my eye. I had seen this film when it was released, but as i was younger it didn't invoke as much interest as it did now. This film is sensational. The story is riveting and what can be said about Samuel L Jackson and Christina Ricci? Both knocking it out of the park; completely in sync with each other....in sync....N SYNC!!!!! Which brings me to Justin bloody Timberlake.This guy is a scene sucking, drama devouring waste of space. I just cannot comprehend why, why any director would sacrifice the overall brilliance of a film by casting someone because of their success in another field of entertainment. He is a singer!!!! Not an actor. He is terrible. Every "emotion" he extracts shows this obvious desperation and it is a punch to the face of the viewer. Watching two powerhouse performances and then a little cretin coming onto scene and destroying the credibility that was once soaring to great heights. Brought back down to earth with a FUD. By the end of the film i was trying to hold onto all the great moments in the film; Jackson's soulful music, Ricci's captivating cry for help. But at the back of mind is this little sting, a prick if you will, that because of a certain somebody the film feels tainted.Damn you Timberlake, i hate you.