Director Ryan Coogler has been on a hot streak in movie theaters essentially from his very first feature, 2013’s Fruitvale Station, through his last film Black Panther Wakanda Forever, the followup to his monumental hit Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because of his notable success, it’s easy to have missed the fact that all of his hit movies have been IP-based or true stories and not original films that come from his mind alone. After more than a decade as an uber successful director, Coogler finally gets the opportunity to tell his own story to audiences while working once again with a frequent collaborator.
Sinners takes place on October 15 and 16, 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, introducing us to the SmokeStack twins Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore (both portrayed by Michael B. Jordan), two gangsters who have returned to Mississippi after a stint in Chicago working with Al Capone. They’ve decided to take their earnings, and bootleg Irish beer and Italian wine, to start a new juke joint in their hometown featuring their blues playing cousin and son of a preacher Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore (Miles Caton) along with local blues man Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo). As Smoke and Stack try to navigate both building a business and complicated romantic relationships with Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) respectively, the entire group soon learns on opening night of Club Juke that something darker lurking in Clarksdale
In terms of the film’s vampiric bonafides, Sinners feels like a spiritual successor to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s 1996 cult classic From Dusk Till Dawn. Both take place in a remote nightlife establishment and spend their first half establishing the characters at the center of the story, led by two criminal brothers, before turning into gory bloodsucking goodness in the second half. The thrills of its horror elements are as good as its predecessor and any other vampire film in the canon featuring both brutal bites and kills of the undead as the uninfected attempt to survive the night. The blood and gore are plentiful and come as a result of action scenes that feature the right amount of brutality to imbue Sinners with the energy you’d expect from a horror thriller with copious amounts of vampires. The vampires themselves are menacing and threatening, led by Jack O’Connell as the lead monster Remmick, creating the perfect amount of dread for the protagonists and tension as they try to survive their assault. It’s a perfectly executed humans versus monsters battle that thoroughly entertains and keeps the audience engaged in seeing the protagonists come out on top.
Where Sinners differentiates itself from Dusk as well as other vampire fare is its themes leaning into spirituality and connectedness in particular. The film takes its time establishing both religious aspects through Sammie and mystical, spiritual elements through Annie’s knowledge of magic and the occult. Sammie is weary of the potential presence of the devil in his pursuit of music due to his father’s preacher background and subsequent warnings of what secularism can lead to while Annie is attuned to the role that more mystical and native beliefs in spirituality play in protecting those she loves from evil and how ancestors who have passed on continue to surround us, knowledge that comes in handy once the vampires come to town. Music also plays a pivotal role in the story and in driving several characters, both good and bad, as it is music that draws Remmick to Club Juke that fateful night, hoping to share in Sammie’s gift through biting him and using it to connect to the spiritual world his vampirism has disconnected him from.
Sinners drives the point home that music itself is a spiritual medium and playing and listening to it provides a spiritual experience that transcends time and space. The film features numerous musical numbers, and the first extended scene is also perhaps the best scene in the film overall, a perfectly executed single take of Sammie’s blues performance that brings to life its opening monologue that music has been seen across societies worldwide as something that connects spirited from the past, present, and future together in celebration. As the camera sweeps around the jukebox joint with zero cuts, we current day Clarksdale dancing to Sammie’s blues beat while spirits from the past and future join in a play alongside him in alternate realities; an electric guitar playing funk performer straight out of Parliament Funkadelic, a griot in tribal regalia dancing, a DJ on the ones-and-twos playing rap while women from the future twerk and LA crips and bloods drip walk and play the club’s roulette table respectively. It’s a nod to black ancestral connection that is technically flawless and inventive while strengthening one of the film’s core themes. A moment of brilliance that will be hard for any film to top this year.
Sinners also displays the power of love in building lasting soul ties between people with the SmokeStack twins’ love affairs with Annie and Mary respectively playing out during the fateful encounter with the vampires. Jordan, Mosaku, and Steinfeld all display impeccable chemistry with each other which only makes this theme stronger. Both couples’ bonds transcend the ugliness of vampirism, keeping Smoke and Annie and Stack and Mary connected to each other despite any obstacles that befall them through their experience with the vampires. The juxtaposition of each couple’s unique vampire experience creates an interesting yin and yang that lead to the same place even if the two couples stories and sides differ; displaying the strength of love and how it can bind people together and allow them to weather any storm that seeks to divide them. In that way, it’s a sort of romanticization of the spiritual that complements the horror element and provides some interesting thematic depth in a film that is already brimming with it.
Sinners is a big swing for the fences and it connects comfortably. In terms of its scares and action, once the film arrives at that point, it is engaging and creates investment in the audience toward the outcome. It features just the right amount of gore and violence that you’d expect from a vampire romp. In the lead up to the explosive second half, the film does a good job in establishing its characters and introducing its themes, which also separate it a bit from similar films that came before it, without sacrificing its pacing. This is attributable not just to Sinners’ interesting examination of religion, spirituality, love and connectedness, but also its quality cast led by Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twins Smoke and Stack. Jordan is able to make each feel like their own person through speech, physicality, and mannerisms, a testament to his stellar performance. Miles Caton impresses as their young cousin trying to find his way in the world and Wunmi Mosaku offers a determined strength and spiritual grounding as Annie that balances perfectly with Jordan’s Smoke. Delroy Lindo’s Delta Slim adds in levity with just the right amount of heart to make the character endearingly real rather than a caricature for comic relief. Li Jun Li also does the most with her screen time in a large ensemble as grocery store co-owner and longtime friend of the SmokeStack twins Grace Chow.
The balance in him is indicative of the balance that defines the film. From the aforementioned aspects to its authentic production design and gorgeously colored cinematography, Sinners is a well rounded film that offers high quality substance, technicality, and entertainment. Ryan Coogler even found a way to reference the racial realities of Jim Crow era Mississippi while avoiding unnatural heavy handedness, but still remarking on the experiences the characters faced in those times, their effects on their psyches and the setting, but not being too preachy or distracting. No matter what aspect of filmmaking you most admire, this film offers something that will scratch that itch. A high quality, original outing that is satisfying and well executed.
Image: Warner Bros.
