A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, is looking everywhere for love, but never quite finding it.
This is the kind of movie that's best enjoyed as a stylized fantasy, much like Brewer's most obvious model, Elia Kazan's Southern-fried Tennessee Williams adaptation Baby Doll.
– Lou Lumenick,
New York Post,
2 Mar 2007
rotten:
The movie strolls right past absurdity into offensiveness, by trying to pass this pulp nonsense off as noble art.
– Elizabeth Weitzman,
New York Daily News,
2 Mar 2007
fresh:
For Black Snake Moan to work any sort of magic, it must be viewed as a blues riff on damaged souls and their desperate need for salvation.
– Connie Ogle,
Miami Herald,
2 Mar 2007
fresh:
Delightfully outrageous, Black Snake Moan is an explosive mixture of sex, race and down-South swamp water.
– Mark Holcomb,
Time Out New York,
3 Mar 2007
fresh:
Pitched uncomfortably but compellingly between homage and exploitation in its big-hearted exploration of the steamiest corners of black life.