Somehow every year from the whole set of international releases there are a few movies we miss out on. You can blame it on bad marketing, wrong targeting or just some freak happening, but either way the result can be the same: a movie goes under the radar and it stays there until someone is kind enough to dig it out and recommend it to us. If this were to happen only to titles such as Sex and the City I honestly wouldn’t mind that much. On the contrary I would actually be glad and even grateful for being spared of the horror of watching such Hollywood productions. But unfortunately it tends to happen to more interesting ones also. For me this was the case of Black Snake Moan, a movie released in March 2007 that I never heard of until recently and that has managed to turn me in the course of two hours into one of its biggest fans.

The recipe on which the film is built might have had something to do with it, I admit that. It’s the same as for other movies I reviewed on this website or will in the near future: a core quality cast featuring names such as Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci, a condensed story covering a relative short period of time, limited yet tasteful settings and brilliant acting to glue everything together into an extraordinary result. In other words: the enhanced version of a theater play. Add to this some very cool directing tricks and a surprisingly good soundtrack and you’ll have an idea of what you can get out of Black Snake Moan.

Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), an old bluesman with strong religious beliefs, has shaped his entire life around the attempt of preserving the integrity and wellbeing of his family. This small paradise he has worked and sacrificed so much for comes crumbling down the moment his wife decides to leave him for his younger brother. Rae (Christina Ricci) is a wild young woman desperately looking for love. When her boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) leaves for the army, the demons of her sexually traumatized childhood surface and she tries to satisfy her need for love with sex. The path of her emotional hunger leads to a brutal and violent end as she gets beaten and left for dead in front of Lazarus’ house. He finds her, takes her in and tends to her wounds, but he will soon discover they are much more “deeper” than he expected and that apart from the regular medicine, some good old fashion music, some love and a really heavy chain are needed for curing Rae. That’s the plot in a nutshell and I’m really sorry I can’t tell you more without spoiling the whole cinematic experience for you.

I’m not going to even try to find an excuse for the extraordinary poor marketing decisions that were made for this movie. “Everything is hotter down south” is the line that was suppose to sell it – that says quite a lot about the creative power and accumulated IQ of the marking team. No, it’s not about interracial sex, it’s not about bondage, it’s not about S&M as the movie poster might lead you to believe. No! It’s actually a tale about the power of love, about the power of music, about fighting your inner demons and following your dreams. A tale brilliantly told that you will never forget. Black Snake Moan is a movie you must see.