Watch it for the music
Some films exist mostly to showcase music. These films can have fairly simple plots that exist in service to the soundtrack, and if the soundtrack is good enough, it can be worth it. A Hard Days Night did this for The Beatles, The Harder They Come did it for reggae, and Hustle and Flow did it for hip hop. With Black Snake Moan, director Craig Brewer seeks to do for blues music what he did for hip hop with Hustle and Flow,
The plot is pretty straightforward. After his cheating wife leaves him, Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) a poor farmer discovers Rae (Christina Ricci), a young woman with uncontrollable sexual urges badly beaten and left for dead by one of her male acquaintances in front of Lazarus' house. Determined to save her from herself (and redeem himself), he chains her to the radiator of his house until he can "fix" her. It's a simple plot, and frankly at times it can be downright moralistic and preachy, but Jackson and Ricci so subsume themselves into the roles that they help carry it along.
But none of that really matters, the real highlight here is the music. The film features a fantastic blues soundtrack, with Jackson and Ricci even taking turns performing songs in the film. This is the type of film that is best experienced with a good sound system.
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