Black Snake Moan (Craig Brewer, 2007)

[therewillbeblus]

Call me crazy, but I could've stood a longer film to thoroughly detail the transformation that takes place. The first 45 minutes are terrific, but once the dynamic with chains begins to establish itself, I was waiting for a gradual organic bond to form- and what we get feels a bit rushed. Having said that, this was much better than I expected and mfunk really gets at why. There is something about people from completely different demographics and personalities supporting one another that's cool not because it's a fantasy but because it's real (not like this, but generally). Even more specifically, in drawing characters with very different flaws (*who don't ignore or make excuses for them), the focus gets to be on how we can be a stable force for another and their problems unconditionally, completely exclusive from our own deficits. This film is vehemently arguing for more of us to look up from our muck and act upon the truth that we've all experienced: we can be present and help and advise another person with compassion, even if we can't practice those principles perfectly ourselves. Support doesn't need to come from 'experts' who have it 'figured out'- just another human being who feels empowered to see the potential for rehabilitation and progress in another, with something to offer, which the film also believes (rightfully so) is everyone.

Beyond the thematic universality that lurks beneath a very unique milieu, who greenlit this film so we know where to pitch our wild ideas? The premise and its savage mechanics explore a perverse sense of both isolation and bonding, with thankfully a movement away from diagnosing and toward enigmas of the power of interpersonal comfort. There is no didactic encouragement for or against co-dependency, since that's essentially where we're left by the end on the surface, but the film chooses to look at our disheveled lives and acknowledge that they're better with the presence of a partner/friend who can see what we cannot; and our lives are also better when we can do the same for another, whether we realize it or not. I avoided this film upon release based on a trailer that made it look like an ultra-specific tale of imposed Christianity 'curing' the deviant normalcy of youth. Silly me, it's a Christian movie all right, but only insofar as it embraces the vaguest principles of familial love, which is a position I can get behind. I can't say I was with this movie all the way, but I liked it enough and above all else, appreciated its ease at occupying a strange space to tell a familiar conceptual idea in an abnormal way.

By the way, Jackson definitely does give one of his career best perfs here, but it's Ricci who takes a page out of Baby Doll to flesh out her character will all the carnal juices an actor can. The film rides on her most of all, since her character should not be this captivating based off the script, but I was glued to the screen watching Ricci unveil slivers of buried pain, needs, and resilience in subtle gestures and glances. Her humanity is alive and on fire, and I'd watch a three-hour cut of this film just to see more small shifts of change in her during the second act (though I can definitely see a biblical angle too in the fable where the thunderstorm cements the magic that’s already been brewing in a “God” moment- it is a film that dares to emphasize, and then sit with, the indistinct ingredients of meaningful and moral existence after all).

[mfunk9786]

Always glad to see this film getting any of its sorely deserved attention. Ricci should have gotten an Oscar for it, but instead it sort of put a punctuation mark on her career for a while. You are correct that she is essentially perfect for, and in, the role.

[knives]

It really is terrible that Ricci and Brewer weren't given even more leeway for personal projects after this.

[therewillbeblus]

It looks like Brewer's done just fine and gone the route of plenty of directors who move into larger budgets and make successful projects when offered them. I don't know if he was deprived of leeway for ideas, I haven't read anything about it, so perhaps I'm mistaken. I certainly 'wish' he had continued to write and make personal projects instead of following the dollar signs, but I feel that way about a lot of filmmakers these days.

[knives]

He's talked in interviews about wanting to make more personal projects, though I think that Netflix movie was one, but having trouble getting financing. His first three or so features though are some of the best of the previous decade so at least have that.

[therewillbeblus]

Hmm interesting, since he had a hand in writing the Footloose remake, I figured he was more passionate about it (plus it continues his interest in music that permeate his two previous films) and having not received writing credits on the subsequent works I assumed those were more for-hire, but that's aimless speculation. I haven't seen his first film that apparently inspired Hustle and Flow, but that film is outstanding.

[knives]

I have a copy of his first film, he was handing it out for free some years back, and it features many of the same strengths he'd show in his next two films. I should admit I haven't seen Footloose since it just doesn't interest me.