Movies: Black Snake Moan and Raise the Red Lantern

A ill-matched double feature. I oughtn't even discuss them in the same post, except for having seen them both last night.

Black Snake Moan. First of all: SO Hot. After reading a few annoying liberal-academic-ish reviews and being told that a) it's not OK to sexify anorexia via Christina Ricci's emaciated body and b) it's not okay to chain people to radiators in these days of Guantanamo Bay, I went to see for myself whether this movie was as hot as the posters promised. It's a scorcher.

A finally not fat anymore Christina Ricci absolutely embodies Rae: a Southern anti-belle with a rockstar's swagger, child's eyes, trucker's mouth, and a perfect rack (proof of non-anorexia, FYI). Rae has "the sickness," a sort of sexual poltergeist effect comprised of post-traumatic stress flashbacks that drive her to consummate sexual acts with whatever man is readily available. As the plot progresses, we find that she was sexually abused as a child by her mother's boyfriend (hence the PTS), leading not only to her sickness, but also to a rift between her and her mother, who denies the abuse ever happened. Rae's only source of stability is the faltering Ronnie (Justin Timberlake, who turns in a not very interesting performance of a not very interesting role, but who definitely looks like the wussy honky cracker (hey - it's the South; it's okay) he's supposed to be), who goes away for a stint in the National Guard. Without anyone to protect her from herself, Rae fucks a few awful characters and then goes to a lawn party where she takes some pills and drinks a beer. A stunningly-shot night scene follows in which Rae and a few unnamed teens play touch football on the grass, drunk and stoned. Rae wears nothing but white underpants and football shoulder pads. In the middle of the game, she's pushed down to grass, fucked, and left there. Her body is collected by Ronnie's best friend Gil who loads her into his truck to drive her home. He stops on the way, presumably to fuck her, but instead starts punching her when she says something surly. When he can't revive her, he does what any freaked-out dude would do - kicks her (yes - with his shoe) out the truck and speeds away.

Her perfectly formed, scantily-clad body is discovered the next morning by Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson), whose back story we've meanwhile also been following: his wife just left him for another man, he plays a mean blues guitar, and he's angry with God. He takes her home, cleans her wounds, and fetches her medicine. When she becomes halfway cognizant, she tries to have sex with him (he does not, of course, allow this). When she becomes two-thirds cognizant, she tries to run away, leading Lazarus to tether her to his radiator with a heavy metal chain wrapped around her waist and padlocked. Pretty hot. (Absolutely nothing to do with Guantanamo Bay, by the way).

Then of course the plot must progress, so we see how Rae and Lazarus ultimately help each other (she is the child he never had (his wife aborted his baby against his will - another source of his deep pain); he is the father she never had). Ronnie comes back, a bit of drama ensues, and everything turns out even better than just okay. Whatever. The whole is far less than the sum of the parts - this movie is brilliant in its details. Ricci is perfect in every flick of her tongue and hips. Jackson is perfect, down to his ruined fingers against the guitar strings. The music is brilliant, the exchanges are raw and pithy, and the shots are well structured. Great movie. Critics: lighten up.

Raise the Red Lantern. A Chinese classic featuring the young and (supposedly) beautiful Gong Li (she's just not really my type.) Annoying liberal-academic-ish reviewers, come and get it; this is a film for you. "Haunting," "seething," "slow," "lyrical," etc. etc. ad inf. Young Songlian (Gong Li), after six months at University, loses her father and thereby her financial support. She becomes the Fourth Wife of a wealthy man whose myriad family traditions include hanging red lanterns in the home of the wife with whom he chooses to spend each night. Clearly, much jealousy and plotting amongst women (including the serving girl with whom he also engages in sexual service) then ensues. Friendships are made, enemies are established, secrets are revealed, truths are laid bare. The main truth being that this is not a good system. But those liberal-academic-ish reviewers can make some feminist statements and whatnot. Yay fun (not really).

Anyway, the reason this movie is good is because the tone and the pacing and sets and such are good. It's aesthetically quite lovely. Particularly the parts with the snow. It's rather aesthetically repressed (one could argue easily that this is a good thing), but that prevented me from empathizing with any character. Songlian may be the protagonist, but she's no angel, and her fate (she goes mad after witnessing the murder of the Third Wife in retribution for an extra-marital affair, which affair Songlian accidentally disclosed to the Second Wife) left me cold. The whole thing sort of left me cold.