In rural Mississippi, Lazarus, a former blues musician who survives by truck farming, finds a young girl nearly beaten to death near his home. She’s the white-trash town tramp, molded by a life of sexual abuse at the hands of her father and verbal abuse from her mother, who seems to delight in reminding Rae of her mistake in not aborting her. Lazarus, who is also facing personal crisis at the dissolution of his marriage, nurses Rae back to health, providing her with gentle, fatherly advice as well as an education in blues music. Rae’s boyfriend, Ronnie, goaded by the man who nearly beat Rae to death, misunderstands the relationship between Lazarus and Rae, and vows to kill him. Lazarus, exhibiting a street-smart understanding of violence and its motives, calls Ronnie’s bluff, senses that he is as troubled as Rae, and becomes a guiding force in the young couple’s resurrection. —IMDb
Craig Brewer (born December 6, 1971) is an American film director and screenwriter. His 2005 movie Hustle & Flow won the Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and achieved commercial success, along with an Academy Award for Best Original Song, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”.
Hustle & Flow was financed by filmmaker John Singleton, also produced by Stephanie Allain, Preston Holmes and executive produced by Dwight Williams.
Brewer’s subsequent project, Black Snake Moan, began filming in September 2005 and stars Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. Black Snake Moan was partially filmed in Memphis, Tennessee. Production completed on Black Snake Moan in October 2005 and it was released on March 2, 2007. His first big-budget film, a remake of the 1984 film, Footloose was released on October 14th, 2011 after Brewer and the two stars of the film Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough completed a national press tour promoting the film. The film… read more
A gritty and quite quirky movie that throws in everything you could ever wish to find in an “Americana” movie, racial issues, the army, rednecks, the blues, sex, drugs, booze, wifebeaters, preachers… read review
When I Netflixed Black Snake Moan, I was expecting a sleazy exploitation flick that might offer some cheap laughs and titillation. I was not, I repeat, NOT expecting to witness a great film that would… read review
Craig Brewer is now officially a writer/director for whom I will see any film by, no matter how bad it may look. His debut, Hustle and Flow, was one of my favorites from that year, with its emotionally… read review
