Sundance. Black Snake Moan.

"Some people will consider Black Snake Moan [site], Craig Brewer's second feature after his triumphant debut at Sundance two years ago with Hustle & Flow, to be a powerfully involving story of redemption," blogs Eric Kohn for the New York Press. "Others will think that it's exploitative, directionless, and dumb. There is a middle ground, however, and I'll say this: At least it's not Hounddog."

But Zoom In Online's Annie Frisbie calls it a "parable wrapped in an exploitation movie" and "immensely entertaining.... There's nothing shy about this movie, with [Christina] Ricci seducing everyone around her (including the audience), and [Samuel L] Jackson unleashing the full force of his powerful personality. Each gives a mesmerizing performance. Together, they're a sticky August night, cold beer and heat lightning, too many ways to sin but there's always church on Sunday."

Updated through 1/30.

Cinematical's James Rocchi finds it "a lesser film than Hustle & Flow. It's not that Black Snake Moan is provocatively salacious, but rather that it's poorly structured."

For the Los Angeles Times, Robin Abcarian talks with Ricci and Brewer, who calls the film "a kind of stew. A Southern narrative. This constant circle of sex and fear and lust and God." And Sheigh Crabtree meets cinematographer Amy Vincent: "If Craig came to me with material even more extreme than Black Snake Moan, I know it's ultimately going to be a story about love and redemption. So yes, I would go anywhere with him."

Ray Pride snaps photos of the swag: "This is the rear of the Black Snake Moan promotional hat; after you see the back side, you may thing it's both crass and brilliant, as a handful of people think of the movie itself."

Updates, 1/26: "It's difficult to calculate a film's merits while enveloped in celebrity endorphins and the clicking of a thousand camera phones, but let's just say the audience turned up determined to have a good time and was not disappointed," writes Salon's Andrew O'Hehir. "Some viewers will doubtless disagree, but I see no misogyny at the heart of Black Snake Moan. It depicts a misogynist society, one that has beaten, shamed and victimized Rae all her life. But if that society has warped Rae's self-image, it has not vanquished her spirit. Both she and Lazarus may be trapped in dime-novel situations, separately and together, but they nonetheless are complicated, fleshed-out characters, marred by self-hatred and stiffened by pride."

Bob Fischer talks with Amy Vincent for Filmmaker.

Update, 1/30: Scott Foundas calls it "a fairly straightforward variation on George Bernard Shaw - Pigsfeetmalion, if you will. When he outgrows his terminal adolescence, Brewer might be the perfect filmmaker to take on William Faulkner or Tennessee Williams."

Coverage of the coverage: The Park City Index.

Posted by dwhudson at January 25, 2007 2:05 PM