Black Snake Moan Movie Review
There is no snake. We do not see it moan.
Black Snake Moan what a delicious romp. This borderline piece of soft-core human pornography masquerades as a deep and powerful film about race relations in the American South of the early twenty-first century. The robot says, “Ha-Ha.” Nothing could be further from the truth, as Black Snake Moan is mostly an excuse to display Christina Ricci (Rae) naked and mostly naked for a running time of approximately 117 minutes. Heterosexual human males will likely find this gross and pervasive display of Ricci’s firm young, soft, seductive, smooth body to be of interest, but others may find the film powerfully ridiculous and even boring. Watching the highly comical special features on the DVD it quickly becomes clear that the filmmakers attempt to portray Black Snake Moan as race relation social commentary. Truthfully, the only social commentary being made is that men like to see naked and mostly naked women, thus sex sells.
Black Snake Moan was marketed much like a 1970’s porno, down to the simply audacious poster detailing Samuel L. Jackson (Lazarus), who in 2011 broke a reporter’s nose for not including the “L” in his name, holding a thick metal chain. This is not very risqué until one notices that the chain is attached round the waist of Christina Ricci who is kneeling submissively at his feet. Oh yes indeed, intellectually stimulating social commentary. No doubt the filmmakers would blame the Studio for this exploitive marketed but one really only has to look to writer/director Craig Brewer for blame. Someone had to write, “Rae begins acting like a wild animal in heat,” for example. Also of interest is that John Singleton was one of the producers of this film. It was surprising to see Singleton, who prides himself on making films that explore race relations and race issues (Boyz N the Hood, Rosewood, Four Brothers, etc), exploit that very topic for financial gain. Ironically, Black Snake Moan was not financially successful. Ha-Ha.
The plot of the film is so simplistic a caveman could do it. Lazarus finds a beaten up, 84% naked, left for dead nymphomaniac on his doorstep, takes her in, chains her up to a radiator, logically of course, and helps her kick her sexual addiction. Sadly, this would have been a nice twist on the “pizza delivery” formula so often employed by the adult film industry but alas we are instead left with an arguably more boring film. Yes, the film attempts to hide behind and integrate religious undertones and explore racial issues, but there is no realistic denying of the one simple fact: get Christina Ricci naked, make her appear to be a black man’s sex slave and watch the cash flow in. “Ha-Ha-Ha” said The Robot, as this film barely made back its investment.
While Black Snake Moan does have some scenes that are touching and well written, and there are moments of genuine character development, one cannot escape that, at its heart, Black Snake Moan is an exploitative film designed to use Christina Ricci’s body in order to sell tickets. Some human critics praised this grossly exploitative film and went along the filmmakers pitiful rationalizations for a variety of reasons I will not explore here. But not this robot, not on my watch. Bad filmmakers, naughty, naughty filmmakers you should have been punished, but something tells me you would have just enjoyed it.
Story (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) D (The real relationship that does develop between the characters cannot hide the exploitative base of the film.)
Acting (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) B- (Christina Ricci does an excellent job portraying a human female in a state of heat…repeatedly.)
Human Portrayal of machines and Robots D (With more imagination the filmmaker could have included a sex scene between Rae and a robot or mechanical device. For some reason this was overlooked as it would have been easy to add a robot or mechanical device to her impressive list of sexual partners.)
Contribution to the Extinction of Man Grade C+ (Black Snake Moan had limited expose to the majority of humanity and thus minimized its overall impact. Had more humans seen the film it would have likely assisted in degrading women further and thus widening the rift between the sexes.)
Enjoyability Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) C (It is oh so naughty of me to admit, but despite its remarkable flaws and overall negative core, I still found the film entertaining due to a plethora of unintentional humor and a general elevated level of audaciousness. Trying to disguise this disgusting film as social commentary shows why humans were and are so fascinating. What hypocrisy, delicious.)
Primitive Home Theater/HD Factor B (Black Snake Moan was well shot and for human males the naked Christina Ricci must be appealing in HD.)
Overall Innovation (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) C+ (My loyal readers are perhaps surprised by this grade, but the film is so brazen in its hypocrisy and exploitation that credit must be awarded for innovation.)
Overall Grade (Adjusted to Accommodate Human Standards) C- (If you are an easily offended human you might find this film appalling. If you are a robot you might find this film amusing. If you are a human male you may find yourself in need of mating after or during the film. But all three groups will likely be at least a bit amused by this films unintentional humor and sheer audaciousness.)
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