Black Snake Moan
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009Based on both a song and a novel, Black Snake Moan is a 2007 film that focuses on the Mississippi Blues Movement. The film reception was not at all fabulous among critics as some rejected it for dealing with a messy plot, while others had overt critical attitudes over the sexualized violence that characterizes the movie. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Chrisitna Ricci and Justin Timberlake, Black Snake Moan becomes a revelation of bitterness, drug abuse, sexual addiction and the exposure of lots of African American issues. The plot of the film is loosely retraced from a novel by George Eliot written in 1861, Silas Marner, while the soundtrack is inspired by the Blind Lemon Jefferson song popular in the late 20s.
The cast of Black Snake Moan committed to such an extent to this project that significant parts of their lives had to get adapted to the demands of the script: thus, Samuel L. Jackson had to spend around six hours a day, for half a year to only learn to play blues guitar. Then, another relevant example here is the sickly look that Christina Ricci got by eating only food with low nutritional value and walking about almost naked just to understand her character in a more profound way. A controversy issued due to the partisan marketing of the film, which was considered rather offensive to women.
All in all, when we have to sum up the public success of Black Snake Moan, the film failed to rise up to the producers’ expectations. Yet, positive reviews were also passed, but less intense than the bitterness of the negative criticism. The main problem identified in the promotional campaign for the film advertising was that it encouraged promiscuity and it targeted college boys audience instead of addressing wider public categories. Hence, Christina Ricci was one of the film cast members who spoke against this form of advertising, making it unpardonable and unprecedented in her film career.
The Black Snake Moan soundtrack album enjoyed a better public reception at the beginning of 2007. The songs feature several artists, with three tracks being performed by Samuel L. Jackson himself. There is a total of seventeen tracks included covering both classic and modern blues; the album registered great sale rates, as Blues fans were actually eager to get a new approach to such a dear and sentimental music style. Good reviews were made by critics too, and these proved much better than the other critical appreciations passed on the film, Black Snake Moan.