Acclaimed and highly imaginative filmmaker Ryan Coogler is one of our best living directors. His oeuvre since his startling 2013 feature debut Fruitvale Station shows that his craft and his penchant for innovative storytelling gets better with each film. And his several collaborations with talented (and hunky) actor Michael B. Jordan have also proven very fruitful. I believe they have reached their zenith with this year’s horror blockbuster Sinners.
Buy Sinners Blu-rayA mixture of Blaxploitation, mysticism, musical, and more that deals with themes of racism, Coogler’s brilliant tale centers on twins Smoke and Stack Moore (both wonderfully played by Jordan). Set in 1932, the brothers are war veterans and bootleggers coming back to their Mississippi hometown to redeem themselves from their questionable pasts. They reunite with their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton in his amazing film debut), a budding guitarist; Smoke’s estranged wife, Annie (Wunmi Mosaku giving an outstanding performance), a Hoodoo priestess; and Mary (a sultry Hailee Steinfeld), Stack’s ex-girlfriend. They purchase a sawmill to turn into a juke joint and hire local legend Delta Slim (the always commanding Delroy Lindo) to perform and Chinese shopkeeping couple Grace and Bo (Li Jun Li and Yao) to supply the food and booze. Their new business venture is a rousing success, but tampering with their plan is a supernatural evil, one bent on destroying them every chance it gets.
As you may know by now, the evil I’m talking about is a horde of vampires, led by a sinister Irish immigrant named Remmick (scarily played by Jack O’Connell), who are basically metaphors of the Jim Crow era. They seduce people into thinking that they can save them from what they think is a fate worse than death, which the vampires believe is being people of color. After all, this film is set during a time of the KKK movement and released this year (when Trump’s ethnic cleansing is turning the U.S. inside out), Coogler knew exactly what he was doing making this film at the right place at the right time.
However, it’s a sweaty, sexy, and scary good time that just drips with blood, atmosphere, and bawdiness which also has a remarkable sense of freedom to it. There is a standout moment in the juke joint where everyone is dancing and many types of music (multiple genres from different eras) mix together that made me smile from beginning to end. You can tell that everyone was having the time of their lives and expressing their freedom. It’s scenes like this that make me proud to love cinema. I also like the way it changes from different aspect ratios throughout (making much of use of its IMAX glory in theaters). It feels like a film that could have been made years ago while also retaining its modernity.
The cast is phenomenal, and every character has their own believability that makes you totally invested in their dilemmas and desperation of survival with things gets very fucked up. You know a film is a success when you’re even drawn to characters that you shouldn’t be (case in point, Remmick). I just can’t gush more about this film, one that should hopefully be regarded as a modern masterpiece, full of dark and grisly magic, but also a relevance during a time of grim political and human change. Thanks for your genius, Coogler!
Special features include Dancing with the Devil: The Making of Sinners; Blues in the Night: The Music of Sinners; Thicker Than Blood: Becoming the Smokestack Twins; Spirits of the Deep South; Wages of Sin: The Creature FX of Sinners; and deleted scenes.
