Black Snake Moan: 

Directed by Craig Brewer, who is famous for 2005's Hustle and Flow, Black Snake Moan is a drama fixed in a small town in Mississippi. It is a film of overcoming your problems. The plot circulates around the three main characters Lazarus, Rae, and Ronnie. All three of these characters have issues that they deal with throughout the film. This movie is a fantastic psychological drama based around Blues music, and a girl with an addiction to sex. Christina Ricci plays her role as Rae effortlessly, so much to the point of self-criticism. She believed that the way the movie was marketed was potentially exploiting women. After viewing the film, it is easy to see how she would come to such a conclusion. Rae is a character who comes across as simply what some would call sexually deviant. There is much more to her though. In her sinful and sexual anguish, there is promise of decency within. Lazarus see's this. Lazarus is a blues man living in the country on his own farm. A man of faith who has alcohol and faith issues himself. Samuel L Jackson is one of my favorite actors because of how well he makes his characters his own. So it came to no surprise when he seemed as if he was born to play Laz. These two characters collide and bounce off of each other so well. My favorite scenes were the ones with serious dialogue between Rae and Laz. Ronnie is a member of the Tennessee National Guard that has a problem with anxiety attacks. He is shipped off in the beginning of the film, to Rae's discontent. It seems that once Ronnie was shipped off, Rae's addiction got worse. So much in fact, that she is put into a situation of being beaten into a short coma and left for dead on the side of the road. Laz finds her, and thus begins the clashing. Lazarus see's more inside of Rae, and tries to break her of the sexual addiction that constantly haunts her. The more of I watched the film, the more I realized that the true theme was about finding something inside yourself to hang onto when your sorrows eat away at your soul. Overcoming the tribulations you suffer through, just to see the other side. Overall, I would highly recommend this film. It is sad that the marketers made the film come off as only a tale of sexual eye candy. People should really give it a chance, as I almost overlooked it at face value. You could say that the theme of this film overcame what the marketers determined it to be. I suppose that is what great screenplay/cinematography can do for a movie such as this.