Midweek Mention... Black Snake Moan

Black Snake Moan

Sidey: This is snake week.

Dan: Yeah. Yeah,

it

Sidey: But we'll get

Like into that. Later in the, in the

Dan: you're gonna have to tune into the main pod to find out the real reason for

Reegs: Snake Week. But um,

and

Dan: all the

Sidey: gonna talk about Black Snake down, or what's this one

called?

Cris: Oh, black Snake Moan.

Sidey: Yeah.

Yeah. I,

sorry, I didn't see this one.

Dan: No, um,

Sidey: is your, is your non sound

Dan: it so, um, zero fucks. I didn't watch it.

Sidey: Um,

Dan: not because, um, I gave zero fucks about it. I generally just. Didn't find the time.

Sidey: It's been

very hectic. Uh, we haven't

Cris: watched it either?

Dan: No. It's

Reegs: me and you, Chris.

Cris: really,

Sidey: we, we got, we've got two expert film, Oh God. Film critics Res and Chris, who

have seen this and

Dan: they're gonna talk us into potentially watching it as soon as this podcast

ends. Or

Cris: Can't wait. Alright. This is,

Dan: us away.

Cris: didn't, I didn't actually, I thought because you, you actually nominated it. I thought this, you would've watched

Dan: It is [00:01:00] traditional. Yes, I know. Um, but

Cris: Okay. Fair enough. Yeah, I mean, I don't,

Dan: happened was it started rain and then, um, I dunno, someone dog ate my homework. Um, that kind

Sidey: thing.

Cris: you've had the tethering, uh, uh, issues in the man cave. Right.

Sidey: So what I do know about this movie is Samuel

Jackson.

Yeah. Christina Ricci.

Reegs: Yeah.

Cris: And Js in Timberlake

Reegs: And

Justin

Sidey: Snake. Yeah. That's another snake, reference. Yeah. And what

I

also know is that

Christina Ricci,

when she

landed

this role, was on the verge of quitting

acting altogether.

Cris: Apparently. Yeah.

Sidey: this was like Kept, her hanging on

Reegs: and I

Dan: internet never lies

Reegs: in a really exploitative way

Sidey: Oh, right, okay.

poster

Cris: looks. Really? Well I dunno out there,

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: Well there's a lot of, uh, snake films to, to choose from and. Snakes on a plane was also mentioned,

but

Cris: Yeah. But you put this out fairly early,

Sidey: right? About 10 days

before that.

Dan: plenty of time. Nobody's got any excuses. You're right.[00:02:00]

Reegs: So let's move on with

Sidey: the review, Yeah.

Reegs: So this is a kind of. Deep south set, sweaty, gothic, blues kind of exploitation drama film. Um, and it's by a guy called Craig Brewer who did Hustle and Flow.

He did a remake of Footloose starring Dennis Qua. I didn't even know that that existed. Um, and coming to America

and some

Sidey: stuff. uh, the number two. Yeah. Right.

Reegs: Um, and it starts with, well the movie has like kind of bookended footage of this blues guitarist, Edward Sun House Jr. Um, and he's talking about the blues and how it's like the misery caused by deception between a man and a woman.

I guess he wasn't too big on L-G-B-T-Q, but

not at the time. Um, so he's talking about that, that's what the blues is about. It's about this deception between men and women, and then it cuts to Justin Timberlake, who plays this guy, Ronnie. Christina Ricci, who plays this girl Ray, and they're getting it on, [00:03:00] um, straight from, straight from

Cris: straight in,

Reegs: sex scene.

Um, and it's pretty like sexy, sweaty stuff, you know, bodies and grabbing and all that goes on for a little while. And then afterwards he PSEs and he gets stressed into his combat fatigues and then goes and pus in the toilet. Like I presumably out of nerves being deployed. Not because of the sex, but

Cris: well, yeah.

Reegs: No, no,

Cris: it is, it is.

Because after that he's like, oh, I need to go now. I'm, I'm getting deployed, blah, blah, blah. And he, as he's trying to leave, he just gets this, whatever.

Reegs: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, he's, he, he gets this deep attack of anxiety, basically.

Dan: It's, uh, it's 2006 this film, um, which, was 19 years ago.

we record today. Yeah. Um, and the, the film's title comes from a 1927 blue song, black Snake Moan by Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Reegs: Yeah. And a song of his will feature in

Cris: will come play,

Reegs: of

Dan: why the bluesy feel

Sidey: is you're like the blues, don't you, Dan? [00:04:00] You're quite a bluesy fan. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. Well,

Phil might

have been right? up your alley. Yeah. He sounds like

Dan: it.

Reegs: I played blues

Dan: I should recommend it.

Reegs: a young Giles Robson. I played blues with

Dan: Did you? Yeah,

Reegs: when we were at

Dan: The, the Great Giles Robinson. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a big fan of

Cris: one and only. Yeah,

Dan: he's, uh,

Reegs: with him when he was just starting playing, learning to play harmonica.

Cris: He also

Reegs: he just kept

Cris: would've been a great guest if he would've watched this film.

Yeah.

Dan: Yeah.

Reegs: he didn't,

Cris: and he's not a guest.

Dan: he may be listening to this pod.

Cris: You never know. Yeah.

Reegs: Uh, so after we see them getting on, we get introduced to Samuel l Jackson's character, Lazarus. Um, and he's meeting his soon to be ex-wife. He's like a grizzled old bluesman who's like, younger days were his best days

Cris: and he's now a farmer.

Yeah, he's not a farmer. We do see that before he meets his wife. Yeah. And then they meet up in a cafe and basically she's trying to tell him

that, which she does in the end. I don't love you anymore. Yeah. He [00:05:00] won't take no for an answer. She's been

seeing

or

sleeping with some other man.

Reegs: Well, it's his younger

Cris: which, which in we will find out that it's his younger brother.

He's very handsome by the

Reegs: Yeah. De he knows that at this point, obviously.

Cris: Yeah. Yeah.

Reegs: the movie isn't letting on completely. That's fine.

Cris: but then she's like, he, he keeps going like, oh, well, a man and a woman should always be together. You're my wife, blah, blah, blah. And she's like, I just don't love you anymore.

There I said it, I've said my bit. And then they have a bit of a scene. It's, they cause a bit of a scene in the diner or cafe, whatever. They do make the point that we're only having a coffee, we're not gonna have food. We're gonna leave fairly quickly. And then they go their separate ways and

Reegs: well, he's aggressive before he even goes in there.

'cause he's talking to the preacher outside and he said, oh, I never hit her in the marriage, but she might need a slap today or something. So, you know, the kind of set up that it was between these two. Um,

and uh, anyway, uh, after we get that scene, um, we get Ronnie deploying, right? Yes. And, uh, he's [00:06:00] crying again in this scene as I think he has done in virtually every scene in the movie Justin, in Tim Blake.

And it was only at the end of this movie, I realized he, I was supposed to think he was a kind of tough guy. Um,

Cris: well, he does beat the, the, the other guy fair later on.

Reegs: does. But yeah, so he's distraught, um, and he's like trying to cling onto the relationship he gives her. This is why I thought it would've been good if you'd watched it.

He gives her a, a digital watch. I didn't spot if it was a Cassio, but he, he gives them these watches that are synchronized to beep. It's an important plot point.

Yeah, so he gives her this Casio, I think I didn't get the number.

Cris: It's a watch. Yeah, it's a, yeah, it's a,

Reegs: and they synchronize a beep. Um uh, I think at midnight. And it'll go off and wherever they are, they'll both know

Sidey: that Ah, nice. and they'll think

Reegs: of each other. And it's a plot point as

Dan: well.

Well, 2006, obviously it wouldn't be an a LB 100 Weg. 'cause they went out

Reegs: there, it was blue with a little, it was black, sorry,

Cris: with a blue, blue light.

Reegs: um, red, uh,

Dan: oh, that sounds like an illuminator. Yeah. Nice.

Reegs: Um, [00:07:00] so he goes off in the truck and her like, hypersexuality now at this point is like, so out of control that she's like crying on the ground ground with like grief. And then she basically starts masturbating pretty

Cris: much. Yeah.

Sidey: Wow. On the floor. That's horny On the

Cris: floor, yeah.

Reegs: Um, she's like, she's sort of crying.

No, no, no. That

Cris: then the next shot,

Sidey: her

Reegs: kind of slipped to her crotch

Cris: and then the next shot is her being.

Reegs: Yeah. Absolutely. Wrecked by an

Cris: by a black dude. Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah.

Um, so he's barely even gone and she's getting like,

Sidey: a destroy

Reegs: by some guy in

Dan: Is it at this point you thought this isn't for kids or,

Reegs: this is why I told you you should have watched it.

Dan: it Yeah.

Sidey: I

think the parlance for that is it's

a bull.

Reegs: Yeah. Yeah. So that's just finished basically. Um, and she basically even kind of prostitutes herself after the fact, even though these guys have clearly done it before. She's a bit like, well, where's my money? Obviously. She's like, no, I wouldn't. You are not a hoe. We've done this before. Like, what but it's really,

Sidey: So she's kind of hit rock bottom

Reegs: and yeah. [00:08:00] And she's on, well, no, 'cause she's got No, no, she's got further to go. Not yet. She does the Walker Shame home. And that's when we get the, uh. Kind of title card. Black

Cris: Yes. Yeah.

Reegs: And some blues.

Dan: Wow. We're not

Reegs: even, and she's wearing these fucking tiny white, like tiny shorts.

And the camera is just like following

her

Cris: and this is the thing where she kind of walks past, she walks past her mom,

Reegs: Yeah.

Sidey: who,

Wow.

Cris: who works in a, in a grocery shop.

Reegs: She says to her, are you here for condoms or for, for your cough?

I

know. yeah,

Sidey: yeah. Wow. My daughter.

Cris: And, And, there, and there's, throughout the whole movie, there will be flashbacks of, of. What looks like her being abused, they never show that as in like fully. Yeah. But, but they, there's, there's a, and it's all kind of filmed in a, in a, through the lens of a, of someone with really big specs.

I dunno how you say it in English. Whereas like, uh, blurred,

Reegs: It would be literally like us wearing your glasses right

Sidey: Yeah, yeah,

Cris: yeah. Probably so, so, so you, you can see the shape and, [00:09:00] and it looks like

Sidey: she's out focused, used

Cris: by her. Dad or stepdad, her mom's partner, whatever. So, so this is a recurring theme throughout the movie, and that kind of explains her,

her

Sidey: fairly bleak.

setup then. Yeah.

Cris: Yeah. But, but it's also, she's really promiscuous because I think

Sidey: that's that's all she knows. If she's, been, that's

Cris: what the thing is, that she's really, and, and we will come to find out later that the, the black guy that kind of rattles her initially, he tells Lazarus at one point that she's just one of these people.

That that's how she gets her kind of fixed, that's.

Sidey: She's a Sex addict. Right.

Cris: kind of thing. Anyway, she goes back home and then in the night there's a party. Yeah. She goes to this party again. She

gets,

she has sex with this guy on the floor.

Reegs: She gets smashed on a load of prescription drugs. Yeah. And um, yeah, she's wearing this like football, American football outfit down to her pants, [00:10:00] getting sort of, sort basically consensually having sex in the field.

Yeah. Wearing that stuff. But then she's so out of it afterwards and, um.

Sidey: yeah, Timberlakes, borderline rape,

Reegs: what was his name? Oh,

Cris: oh, I can't remember. Yeah,

Reegs: Timberlake's mate. Gill, who's a bit of a shady fucker. Anyway, um, although he does play it sort of nicely at first is, oh, I'll take you home and all this sort of stuff.

Um,

Cris: picks her up, takes her well.

On the way home,

Sidey: Nice, nice guy. Energy. he

starts

Reegs: to try to confront her about her promiscuity, and then she, um, like just humiliates him over his small dick or something. Yeah. And then he like, starts to attempt to rape her. And that's, and like, because of being humiliated, I think he can't get her and he just fucking smacks her like,

Sidey: Jesus. C

Cris: Yeah,

Reegs: Really horrible, really violent.

Cris: And then he, she passes, uh, she gets knocked out, he panics and just kicks her out of his truck. In the middle of the road. Yeah. And [00:11:00] just drives off.

Reegs: Yeah. just

in a basically bra and pants and it, um,

Cris: pants, no pants. And the, the football t-shirt Yeah. That barely covers her. And then we go to,

Reegs: oh, and then it beeps her watch

Cris: Yeah. While

Reegs: then Timberlake beeps. He's like, on the flight or

Cris: And meanwhile, while

Reegs: I know

Cris: we have the same scene with the Lazarus being really angry. He hits the booze by himself in the gaff.

Reegs: He does. And then he goes to the bar the first bit.

First time we see him go to the bar because we, we learn a bit about him being like a really. A talented local musician, very famous, that even the barmaid tries to throw herself at him. She says something about like, oh, look how hard your fingertips are, or something like,

Sidey: like,

Reegs: um, but that sort of is beyond him.

And then you're right, he goes back and he gets fucking bla blind drunk, staggering drunk, and discovers his guitar again,

Cris: he?

Yeah. Takes all his Mrs. Ex misses shit. He puts it in bin bags, puts it outside, and he gets like proper drunk, tries to [00:12:00] kind of play the guitar, but he's. Demon already. And then in the morning he gets up, goes outside and tr, finds the bin bags with all his ex's stuff, takes him to the bin outside, which is basically a box outside in the road.

And then he sees, uh, Ray. On the floor. Yeah. Uh, just outside his gaff, basically in the

Dan: That same day he is taking the stuff out.

Reegs: Yeah.

Cris: Yes. Yeah. Right. Uh, after, after a, a night where he was steaming, he goes out and he kind of sees her and he is, uh, what's going on? Takes

Dan: I've seen this bit because it was in the trailer where he just sees and he's like, is she dead?

Is she, you know, is

Sidey: on? Well,

Cris: yeah, because he kind of goes on on, not, not in a, in a bad way, but on top of her to kind of see if she's alive and she moves. Yeah. And he's just like, what the fuck? You know, jumps up and whatever and then takes her to the house, goes to the pharmacy, uh, speaks to

Reegs: Angela, who's gonna become a love interest for him

Cris: who's really nice and it seems like he's. He's kind of well [00:13:00] thought of in the community because if all the women look like they're

Reegs: they know about his past, but he spent a lot of time with the local reverend or pastor, hasn't he?

Um, he spends a lot of time with him.

Cris: Anyway, they, he gets some, uh, because she's all beat up Ray, she's got black eye knees and everywhere she's covered in blood and everything, he gets all the stuff from the pharmacy to fix her and then goes back

Reegs: and, yeah. And when he meets her, she sort of deliriously talks about this guy Teron, the black guy that we'd seen earlier.

And uh, so he sort of becomes under the impression that it's teron that's done

Cris: that to her.

Reegs: to her. So, um, and um, she makes a pass at him actually, doesn't

Cris: she, after the pharmacy, she goes to see him.

He

goes to Lazarus, goes to see Tyrone after, yeah. After the pharmacy. And he's like, look man, do you know this girl Ray, blah blah?

He's like, oh, well you're interested in [00:14:00] her, she's a bit young for you. And he's like, no, no, no. I just wanna know what happened, blah, blah, blah. And she, and that's when he says, look, she's very promiscuous, but when she really needs her fix, she calls

Reegs: Yeah. And he fills in a bit more about the sort of trauma, sexual trauma that she's experienced

Cris: and then he goes

Reegs: And then, um, so then he goes back to the house to sort of basically to help her. She's like at his house and she makes like a fever led pass at him. And he's like, no, I'm not into that. Like,

Sidey: this

Reegs: is not what this is about. Um, he, he. And, um, he like, it all becomes like way too much for him. He goes outside and he's just clutching his Bible.

He reads a passage from it and he's like, becomes inspired basically to like, our stories are intertwined. Your

Cris: top off and basically tries to

Reegs: Yeah, but he says, I'm not into that. He's like straight away he dumps her into a cold bath basically to break her fever like an ice bath.

Dan: So, so he takes it upon himself to cure her [00:15:00] of her.

Sidey: Promiscuity.

Reegs: Yeah. And in it, so pursue his own redemption as well for, you know, the failures in his

Dan: and, and so I've seen in the trailer as well that.

She's chained up.

Reegs: Well that happens

Cris: is why. Yeah. This is what happens.

Reegs: Yeah. Um,

Dan: and you've got a black guy in like a, a shack in the middle of nowhere with a white girl chained up. And, and

Cris: To the radiator.

Dan: seen her run out and the change is kind of yanks her back. Yeah.

Reegs: That is what happens. Yeah.

Cris: Well, no, this is the next day because he, in, in that, he kind of has a moment of clarity where, where she, she's after all these drugs that she's taking, she's in a bit of a state, really half hallucinating, half, not really know what's happening.

She just offer, keeps offering to suck him off basically to let her go. And he's like, no, no, we need to break the fever. You need to relax, blah, blah, blah. And then he kind of has a, a moment of clarity goes to the shed and. Gets this [00:16:00] chain, which like a never ending chain. And the next morning she wakes up and she's like, oh, you really need to let me go, blah, blah, blah.

He's like, look, I'm gonna let you go, but you need to fix yourself, blah, blah, blah. And uh, she, you see her taking the, the blanket off and she tries to get up and then you see the chain around her way. She's like, what the fuck is this?

Above that?

Yeah.

Sidey: It reminds way you're talking, it sort of reminds

me of, um, when

renin is locked up

in train sport, you know cold Turkey.

You need to kick this fucking d

Reegs: thing. It is. That is exactly what it is. Like it's, it's, he's like, I'm gonna cure you of this wickedness. Um, yeah, it's like

Sidey: throughout

Cris: the, this, throughout this whole kind of middle section for a good 30 minutes, all she wears is a pair of pants. Yeah. And a football t-shirt. Like a tiny, tiny T-shirt.

And that's, that's all she's like with a chain

Dan: and a chain around her. So that's the bit you're suggesting we watch.

Reegs: Yeah.

So yeah, so this section of the movie then, because he sees like a chance for redemption for himself and for her if he can

Sidey: turn it around.

Reegs: But [00:17:00] she, like, her promiscuity is so strong. She's tested in so many different ways. There's been this, um, kid, he's only about 1314 who came to buy, uh, vegetables at the beginning of the movie.

And he comes up to the shack and she's like, Def flowered him within about like, yeah. Two minutes of

Sidey: Well, yeah,

Cris: because initially he

comes

Reegs: back absolutely raging like Samuel L. Jackson, what you doing?

Sidey: Jason? Fucking hell.

Reegs: Then later he goes to the guy's like, it's not your fault, like, she's really hot, basically, and you are 14.

Here's a packet of cigarettes. Off you go. Like,

Sidey: sick.

yeah, good. Yeah.

Cris: Yeah.

yeah,

Reegs: I know

Cris: And then

Reegs: movie,

Cris: she, he, he keeps trying to, to get her, she, she settles down a little bit. She starts

Reegs: she,

gets Stockholm syndrome basically into like becoming kind of a trad wife. Um, so she starts wear like dressing all

Sidey: nice Oh, really? Cleaning up. So she goes from one like. Terrible mental

state. to Another, yeah.

Reegs: Yeah.

Well, yeah,

Cris: in a way. Uh, and, and then he goes to buy some clothes for her, like a dress and all [00:18:00] that. It's like for my niece, whatever. And then the priest comes The preacher, yeah.

Who is his best mate, right? But meanwhile, he's got a white girl chained to his,

Sidey: It's not a good look

inside

Cris: his G and who already shagged some 14-year-old. And the guy's like his best mate, and he pulls a gun on him

Reegs: don't they all, they all have dinner together eventually though, don't they? Eventually, so,

Cris: but, but this is the point.

The, the preacher comes and he's like, oh, you pointing a gun at me. You better kill me. Whatever. And then he's like, why are you acting like this? And he just points to the house. He's like, well that, and the preacher's like, what do you mean go inside? He goes inside and she's there topless just on the floor and. And

Sidey: still chains

Cris: with the chain

Sidey: on her, on her

Cris: waist, and then obviously the, the guy goes in, the preacher and he's like, what what's going on? I was like, I told you that I need to explain this. How, and then they end up having dinner and whatever

Reegs: but

they sort of, they

Sidey: culture, but the preacher's Okay. with it.

Reegs: Well, sort of, yeah, they, [00:19:00] it's in this very weird, like Hyperreal 'cause nobody's, like, everybody's really big as a character because her

Sidey: are we, are we like out in the

sticks? Yes. So really, really rural. Yeah, yeah, Okay. So sort of different.

Cris: And this is what he says to the preacher.

He's like, look, there's a white girl in front of my house with a black guy. I'm a black guy in this. You remember last week they hanged someone for

Reegs: Yeah. He's realized.

He's

Cris: he's like, I, you know how this would look if, if I, if I call the police or if I call anyone, I can't tell this to

Dan: doesn't, it is not a great look.

Reegs: He actually, to be honest, that is pretty much his first thought. That's why he doesn't, right at the beginning, when he brings her back to the, um, uh, the, the shack, there is a suggestion of, fuck what, like if the police find that a girl here, they're gonna think it's me and that's it.

Cris: Like, yeah.

Reegs: so yeah, that was always part of the

Cris: And now the twist in the story is that while, uh, Justin Timberlake's character was [00:20:00] away, he's now coming back without any real explanation. He just shows up, uh, on the bus. And, uh, Ozzy was going past to go to his gaff. He sees his mate's truck, like pickup truck.

They all drive pickup

Sidey: trucks. Yeah, of course. they, Yeah. yeah, yeah.

Cris: and, and he sees his mate's, uh, I can't remember his name. The guy that punched Gil, the guy that punched her. He, he's in a bar having a drink. He just goes to kind of have a chat with him and then he says

there

Reegs: well, that guy starts making snide remarks, doesn't he?

About being a coward. Yeah.

Cris: the old boy.

Reegs: old boy. The old boy,

Cris: he was in some other war. Yeah, whatever.

Reegs: And he is like, oh, you come back after like a few week. I don't even know how much

Cris: like a couple of days probably. Really, anyway,

Reegs: it's gotta be a, it's gotta be a week or so because she least, 'cause she had that fever all that time.

Cris: May maybe, I mean, it, it's, it doesn't really matter in the whole thing, but the old boy kind of gives a few remarks. He's like, oh, it's not dishonorable. Just discharge is when you. Cowered out. They call it something [00:21:00] else. I can't remember the name.

Sidey: oh, so he is got like A-P-T-S-D. but without

Cris: without actually having, but, and then that's what Timberlake says is like, I've got this problem.

Whenever I shoot in practice, I hit everything. I'm perfect. Whenever there's something in action, I freeze.

and he says, I'm, uh, it's called is they call it severe anxiety.

Sidey: Yeah. Yeah.

He doesn't wanna kill anyone.

presumably. Yeah,

Yeah.

Cris: well he's, he's, yeah, he

Sidey: just freezes, pukes,

Cris: whatever,

and then

Reegs: it's, it is sad, right? Because obviously anxiety and trauma is driving absolutely everything in this movie for every character and it's manifesting in lots of different

Cris: and then he talks

Reegs: trying to like work out whether it is worse for people to think he's a coward than then he's got severe anxiety, which are obviously not the same things.

Sidey: Yeah. It's different. Shooting something, shooting A piece of paper on

a range and shooting a person is, but especially

Cris: in that, in that situation in the south, he, he's looked at, oh, what are you doing?

Sidey: Of course, yeah. Same thing

Reegs: in terms of the sort of emotional arcs of the movie as well, he's being reintroduced back into the movie just as [00:22:00] she's starting to upswing and starting to take some more agency in her life, starting to appear happier.

She's almost voluntarily there now at this point

Sidey: He

Reegs: chain chain has come off. So she's just staying as part of this weird family unit that has, um, been made between him and her. And

Cris: and anyway, he goes with his mate, his gaff, and that's he's, our ray's not answering, we need to go home. At home. She's not there. And then they're like his mate's

like,

Why do you think I know where everything is in the house?

She's just shagging. There's no moment you leave. She's shagging everyone. You know her reputation, you still love her, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then that's when they have the fight and Justin Timberlake takes his keys and drives off. Meanwhile, in the same night, uh, the chains come

Reegs: off. The chain comes

Cris: And, um,

Reegs: that's, she decides to stay and he and Jackson

Cris: like, you know what? This is not gonna work for either of us. Yeah, I have to face my demons and I'm gonna start playing the guitar again. And

Reegs: is when he plays Black Snake moan by, um, blind Lemon Jefferson. And it's like, there's a [00:23:00] thunderstorm go crashing.

And it's like this big like moment of like right. Uh, really building up.

Cris: and then the next day he decides to go to his bar, to his mate and play the, like, have a performance and takes her with him rather than leaving her whatever you need to kind of dance this out. And it, it's quite an interesting scene in terms of, and as they get out of his truck to go to the thing, her watch beeps and she hears the, some of the watch

Sidey: Oh, she's the other watch. Okay. Nice.

Cris: And

Reegs: and she looks

Cris: she looks out. She looks around, yeah, around.

Sidey: then

Reegs: they go and have this like big sweaty blues thing where Samuel l Jackson's actually playing the guitar. 'cause he did learn to play the

Sidey: guitar singer He

Reegs: and he does in,

Cris: yeah. And he's,

he's

quite good. I'm not, I dunno if it's him or

Reegs: you know his character that kind of

Dan: shadow. Yeah. I think he learned guitar?

Reegs: did,

yeah,

yeah, yeah. Yeah, he did. So it sounds good. She, they have a big rave and then you see him like leering at the

Sidey: Timberlakes

Cris: through the [00:24:00] window. Yeah. Just kind of, yeah.

Reegs: Um, also just before that, she's gone off to town and confronted her mother basically, um, gone into the convenience store where she works and basically said, why did you let these people do this stuff to me?

You were

Dan: pulled her up on it.

Reegs: She said something like, oh, I should, my parents were right. I should have had an abortion. I mean, it's like horrendous.

Cris: I should have never had you. Yeah, yeah. It's

Reegs: It was awful. And she attacks her with a mop and stuff. It is quite, at that moment, you're just pleased for her to just like, stick up for herself and just kind of like.

You know?

Finally like, is confronted in

Dan: yeah, can say It's not my fault, it's fucking your fault.

Reegs: Um, so,

Cris: and then,

uh, they go back home, back to the

Reegs: they do a duet of this little light of mine,

still

is Christina Richie singing? And she's, and she's got her eyes closed.

Maybe she was nervous on set. It feels like a very raw, like she sings the song and Samuel L. Jackson joins in. So this weird scene really. [00:25:00]

Cris: And that's when Timberlake comes in with a gun in the gaff behind, uh, uh, Lazarus

Reegs: Oh yeah, exactly. Just at this moment of real, like

Sidey: when

Cris: when it kind of, everything kind of settles down.

She looks, he's like, close your eyes,

Sidey: make a happy ending,

Cris: And she's almost like floating in a, in a normal way for the first time.

Sidey: Really? Yeah.

Cris: He comes in with a gun and smacks. So

Reegs: you think you are some n-word

Cris: Yeah. You, you, oh yeah.

Reegs: shouting all this stuff. Like,

Sidey: oh no.

Reegs: Um, but then Lazarus basically kind of talks him down.

Um, you know, he like calls him green. He's like, you're not gonna shoot me and I know you're not gonna do it. And just like walks him down with the gun barrel and eventually does. Start crying again. It's hard not to take the piss just 'cause it's Timberlake, but it is like, you know, the themes of the movie and all that.

Um, and then they call the pastor in,

Sidey: and they

Cris: basically have

a, a couples therapy.

Reegs: Yeah, they have a couple's therapy session now. Ronnie and Ray. Right.

Cris: with

the,

the, preacher [00:26:00] Lazarus leaves them alone. He's like, you deal with these dicks because I've had enough of them. He got smacked in the head with a gun. He's like, and, and the preacher goes like, oh, what's you, I've been abused, blah, blah, blah.

I, I freeze, blah, blah, blah.

Reegs: They describe the main,

Cris: fixed me.

Reegs: Well,

that's

the main theme of the movie. He says, she fixed me, but I can't fix her. And he's talking about like times that she helped him during his anxiety.

Yeah. And he feels that he can't help her with a promiscuity. And it's a, it's a breakthrough for them really. And it describes the relationships of everyone else, like, 'cause Samuel L. Jackson helped her, but she couldn't help him. He's still, although. And then it all filters around with

Sidey: them, and

Cris: and now lo and behold. They're getting married.

Reegs: Yeah. So Ray and Ronnie go off to get married

Cris: and uh,

Reegs: there's like a little hand holding moment between Angela

Cris: Yeah. and

the guy that she, uh, shagged the 14-year-old is, uh, a best man at the

Reegs: He's the page boy I think, isn't he? He is like right

Cris: [00:27:00] So he's getting involved as well? The

ending

Dan: Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah. And then the ending is quite interesting because as they drive off, um, it's like in the car, it's a bit like one of those, you know, after the marriage in the car

Sidey: and

Cris: they're definitely going

Reegs: drive along, it's all happy somewhere else we are moving on. And then another kind of truck pulls in next to him, starts boxing him in, and Timberlake starts getting angsty and that, and then starts to like.

You know, starts triggering his breathing. They pull over to the side of the road because of his, his anxiety, and she starts kind of

Sidey: oh, really? getting all

Reegs: wanky wanky and then suddenly they kind of stop and she kind of comforts him and he kind of gives her some

Cris: well, no,

Reegs: thing and they

Cris: what works for her, sorry. What works for her is when they do the vowels and they give the ring, she doesn't get the ring, she gets, uh, one of those waist chains, but like, not, not an actual chain.

It's like the, you know

Sidey: Yeah. Yeah.

Cris: A, a thin one, and when he gets all anxious, she gets the, the freaks, whatever you call [00:28:00] it. And she starts twisting on the chain like her, her waist chain. And that's how it calms her down.

Sidey: And who Was in the

truck?

Reegs: I, it was just random. It was

Cris: truckers on

Reegs: it was more that, it was just like, it created anxiety. They went back to their bad habits and then they were sort of

Dan: these coping mechanisms.

Cris: Yeah.

Reegs: exactly.

Sidey: How nice.

Cris: and that's the end.

Dan: Happy endings,

Reegs: Well, sort of,

Cris: Well,

Sidey: yeah, it's just,

Dan: Well it is. It

Sidey: well it was

Sounded pretty blick at the start and they've found at least

something to,

Reegs: It's a pretty weird movie. I, I didn't. Like it a lot of the time. Um, but there is sort of something about it just because of it's, it's well shot and it is got that sleazy quality to it. Um, and that message about how broken people can help each other is one that I quite enjoyed.

Um, it's like really nicely shot, but, and, but very male gazey, so like constantly ogling her, which is exploitation, but also the substance showed that you're allowed [00:29:00] to do that now. So, um, yeah. Yeah. Uh, as long as it's in service of the themes and plot, which it was very much in this case, and the music was good.

The blues.

Cris: Oh yeah, the music was good. Yeah. I'm not

Reegs: the, the novelty of seeing Samuel L. Jackson singing it is good. Um, but I didn't like Justin Timberlake. I thought he was kind of miscast and not so great in

Dan: Maybe just in it for the extra Justin to Tim Blake factor, but, um, yeah, well obviously I didn't see it, but, uh, listening to this I might do.

Cris: I do, you know what I'm, I,

Dan: uh,

Cris: I set aside off air that it's Christina Ricci in her pants

Dan: who I really, who I really like, but that's not inner pants or

Cris: but that's not the point. I, I actually quite enjoy this, uh, not.

I

wasn't happy with the things that were happening, but as a movie, it, it, it was really sweaty.

Really. I, I don't look at the meaning of it, or, or the, you.

Dan: the You watched this with the

Reegs: [00:30:00] Yeah. But you can't, you can pick up

Dan: on the couch and everything, was it No,

Cris: was, she was just in the room and she was on her laptop, kind of half watching it, half, not

Sidey: second screening it. Um,

Cris: and obviously she didn't understand it. Then she still asked me what happened after watching it with me.

But, uh, I quite like this. And, and I would say for, for me, what I normally say about movies that I watch and whatever is, it's too long. It was, they could have cut some of it. I think this was the right distance.

Dan: fucking,

Reegs: it's quite long actually as well.

Cris: No,

Dan: uh, yeah. Okay.

Cris: It was, it was still engaging. I agree with Timberlake, who's a bit of a, like, it could have been someone else that was a bit better,

Reegs: needed to look a bit tougher so that when he was like emotionally vulnerable, it meant something you just say like, Timberlake probably cries like as soon as he wakes up in the morning, like, oh God, I've got

Dan: cry me a river.

Sidey: you know what,

Cris: the only thing I would say to that is the, the, not necessarily the impressive thing is that the, the, the, the musician in the cast didn't sing at all. Yeah. [00:31:00] And both the actors that were actors, rather musicians, both sang

Reegs: Yeah. And give quite raw

Cris: and performances.

So, so I did, I did really enjoy that. And I think the fact that they had a really nice, what, I think it was really nice music. To the backdrop of the south and sweaty and all that, I thought it was really good. So for me, strong recommend,

Dan: Say no more

Sidey: strong.