movie posters are a funny thing. who decides what it should look like? i sometimes wonder if the person designing the poster has in fact seen the movie – or even the trailer! ‘slumdog millionaire’ being the most obvious of late. ‘black snake moan’ is another, but i think this time it was deliberate and clever.
even if you haven't seen black snake moan [and you probably haven’t] you've no doubt seen the film's poster somewhere. it's a very provocative image of a tall black man holding a chain at the end of which is a young white woman, wearing what can only be described as ‘limited attire’. it looks like an exploitation flick. But it isn’t, oh no! surprisingly what you find is a rather old-fashioned tale of redemption - albeit wrapped up in a somewhat steamy atmosphere.
black snake moan is at heart a tale of about two broken people with gaping holes in their lives, who find a connection. rae [ricci] is engaged to ronnie [timberlake]. he’s off on a tour of duty, and as soon as he has gone rae is in agony suffering from an itch which she can't help scratching - if you get my drift. this leads to her being found unconscious at the side of the road by mace windu, i mean lazarus. a religious man whose wife has recently abandoned him for his brother.
he takes her home and aims to cure her of her “sickness”. he has an interesting approach though - shackling her to his radiator with just enough slack to get around the house. which she obviously loves [not].
black snake moan is a strange film which has moments of brilliance, and moments that are not so brilliant. and for a movie that plays to it’s imagery so much – the chain being relevant to both rae and lazarus - it’s the fantastic blues soundtrack that stays with you long after the movie has finished.
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