Movie Reviews - Black and Blue

Movie Reviews this week looks at the beautiful drama Black and Blue.

It tells the story of Amber, a teen having troubles at home with her mother, a meth addict, and her mother's boyfriend a violent drunk. We meet Amber at a music class, where she seem oblivious to the class, amidst the troubles she is having at home.

Soon afterwards she finds her mother unconscious from taking meth, and while her mother is recuperating in hospital, she is sent to stay with one of her relatives, but not before her teacher says goodbye to her with the gift of a lovely 1930's classic guitar. It turns out the life her relative leads is no different from the life Amber was having with her mother, and in the middle of the night she takes her sole belonging, the 1930's guitar and runs away.

Living on the streets Amber faces some of the dangers prevalent for anyone just made homeless, from the homeless people adamant she doesn't take any of their sleeping spaces, to the dangers often faced by single teens on the streets, fortunately for her she is protected from a terrible attack from some homeless vagrants, by a couple of street musicians she saw early on in the day, one of them notices her guitar and asks her if she can play, she says she can't and walks away. As fate would have it she soon befriends the street singers that helped her and their lead singer, namely Ryan played by Dennis Denicola, Teresa the lead singer of the group, played by another beautiful singer Carolina Hoyos, and Marco, played by Daniel Galo, Teresa notices the guitar she is carrying and asks her to play, she mentions she doesn't really know how to play it, but Teresa insists that this is the condition if she wants to hang around with them; she must play, and as if on cue, she plays a beautiful melody and sings too, to the amazement of all, and no doubt the audience too. Amber is played by the gorgeous and very talented Christine Evans (she has one of those dreamy voices, that is reminiscent of Alanis Morisette).

Amber befriends a local blues singer Billy, played magnificently by Zach Harmon, who she first meets wanting to sell the 1930's classic guitar to him to raise some money, Billy asks why on earth anybody would want to sell such a beautiful instrument, he fixes the loose strings on the guitar and plays a lovely song, and soon afterwards Amber asks him to teach her, which he is only too happy to do, it turns out Amber is looking for that father figure she has missed all her life, and Billy sees her as someone who needs guidance, which he is very happy to give.

Black and Blue is a beautiful tale of hope when all seems lost, both for Amber and her newly found companions. The songs and guitar melodies in Black and Blue are what makes this movie enchanting, and Christine Evans is a very talented singer and guitarist.

Movie Reviews is constantly updated with good reviews of great movies that are a must see.

The street musicians, from left Teresa (Carolina Hoyos), Amber (Christine Evans), Ryan (Dennis Denicola) and Marco (Daniel Galo)

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Black snake moan

I must say despite the bad reviews I have heard, I loved this movie, there were so many things to like, the idyllic country side, the superb performances of Samuel L Jackson and Christina Ricci (what a performance by her, there I was seeing the larged eyed cutie on Casper and the Addam's family giving a performance like that)

The ensemble cast were all good, especially John Coltrane jnr as the warm hearted preacher friend to Samuel L Jackson, and regardless of what some of the reviews I have heard say, Justin Timberlake gave a noteworthy performance as the angst ridden boyfriend of the local flossie(Ricci).

And ofcourse there is the music, apparently Samuel L Jackson played all the songs himself, and some have said he could retire from the movie biz and take up an alternative career as a bluesman.

The movie was one of redemption, I heard some people got up and left the theatre because a petite white female is chained up by a black old man, I have to wonder if there were watching the same movie, race was never the issue, only time I can say racial stereotypes were touched on, was when Samuel L Jackson askes in unbelief if Rae(Ricci) can't cook.

Samuel L Jackson plays Lazarus (called Laz) a bible believing retired bluesman, who gave up his music for marital happiness and children with his wife as a farmer in Tennessee, but whose wife has just left him for a younger model, who happens to be his brother, so Laz is now living the blues, ashamed by how the local community sees him, he hides out in his farm, drinking moonshine, while drinking his problems away, Rae unceremoniously gets dumped in his farm after a house party of booze, sex and drugs. He takes her into to his come to tend her wounds, while on his way to town to get her some medicine he finds out she is the local tramp who will sleep with anybody, apparently she has a sickness that is only satiated with sex, on returning he finds her sprawling all over the place still recoving from her booze and pill ridden escapade, seeing that she needs help, he does it in the most unconventional of ways by chaining her to his radiator, with the help of a 40 ft chain.

Despite what the posters and trailers may indicate this is not a BDSM or sexually exploitative movie, you realise after a while that Rae is looking for a father figure, and Laz is looking for a daughter he never had, it is a beautiful tale of redemption found in each other from two opposites. I have never seen anything like this before, no doubt the director Criag Brewer aimed to turn a few heads with some of the storyline, but the overall effect is a brilliant piece of cinema, and the score by Samuel L Jackson just about completes this lovely movie.
One of the many intriguing scenes with Laz(Samuel L. Jackson) and Rae(Christina Ricci)

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