In a small Tennessee town, Samuel L. Jackson plays a God-fearing bluesman who takes to a wild young woman (Christina Ricci) who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, looks everywhere for love, never quite finding it.
This film to me was advertised as sort of a sexy, exploitation, grindhouse flick. It comes off as much more of a character piece though. Not a boring one, but a slow character study nonetheless.
Why is it that Christina Ricci plays such a good skank? In this film, she basically starts looking for "love" moments after her boyfriend leaves town for the service and continues until she plays naked football at a party that night and hooks up with her 3rd man of the day... then gets smacked around for making fun of her near 4th victim. She plays the part of a troubled, white-trash nympho to perfection.
Samuel L. Jackson steals the show though. When he's no longer with us, this will probably be the role he's most remembered for as he's spot on. He preaches the gospel (his name is Lazarus after all), he gives good ole handed-down advice, he plays the guitar and he sings the blues with real emotion. He learned to play the guitar for this film so it would appear more authentic.
Speaking of blues, the title of the film derives from an old Blind Lemon Jefferson song recorded in 1927 and the movie was shot in Memphis.... so it's just oozing the blues and feels real.
The movie itself gets a bit ridiculous often but it's got enough drama to keep it interesting, despite it's occasional over-the-top moments. It could have been better, but I think it's a pretty good film. It's very colorful, has a great soundtrack, great acting and is well shot. Very nicely directed as you can really feel the steam at times.
7/10
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