‘Sinners’ Is Bloody, Beautiful And Ambitious

A bloody, bold and beautiful film that feels a buffet of ideas, Sinners is undoubtedly the most original blockbuster in recent memory. After years of working within the confines of franchise filmmaking, director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther) lets loose with a brilliant gangster-vampire-musical period piece set in the 1930s American South that showcases utter mastery over the art of filmmaking.

Though its myriad elements have been tackled before throughout cinematic history, what makes Sinners such an authentically original work is its intoxicating approach to its mixing of genre and theme. Though certainly a vampire film, Coogler creates something so much more than just a bloody good time as he weaves in investigations into race in America, the meaning of sin, capitalism and a treatise on the eternal power of music.

Clarksdale, Mississippi, 1932: twins, WW1 veterans and gangsters Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return home from Chicago with stolen money and booze to start a juke joint in a barn sold to them by a (supposedly) ex-Klansman.

In their effort, they hire a number of people to make it a night to remember; talented cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), Smoke’s ex-lover Annie (a remarkable Wunmi Mosaku), Chinese-American store owners Grace and Bo (Li Jun Li & Yao), and alcoholic blues extraordinaire Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo). Though the brothers think they’ve chosen the devil they know, the devil they don’t is already in town… and he has sharp teeth.

Music’s unique role in Sinners

The reasons why these morally grey brothers choose to start The Juke are never made entirely clear: is it to make a quick buck, or to give back to the community they came from? We buy into the operation regardless thanks to Michael B. Jordan’s fantastic turn as both twins, working off of Coogler’s phenomenally practical script to create brothers so inseparable you’ll think they cloned him by the end.

More impressive is that Jordan’s performances make Smoke and Stack identifiable from one another even outside of their coordinated colour and fashion schemes. Smoke is the more calculating one, while Stack feels less responsibility and can smoothtalk his way through anything.

No matter what Smoke and Stack’s intentions are in opening The Juke, the pair are aware of music’s unique power: they embrace the blues, born from African-American culture of America’s Deep South, even when it’s regarded as “the devil’s music” by Sammie’s preacher father.

In an utterly inspired move, Sinners sees music as its own kind of magical practice in spite of its supposedly sinful nature. Indeed, the first half of the film is almost solely dedicated to the Smokestack twins’ endeavour to utilise music partly for business, partly for the community. What’s undeniable is that regardless of the circumstances it’s born from, be it for pay or pleasure, the passion that goes into music transcends the boundaries of space and time.

Indeed, the second act of Sinners holds an all-timer scene that illustrates the incredible link music has to the past, present and future. The film’s remarkable mixing of musical genres can be attributed to the wickedly talented composer Ludwig Göransson, who utilises a number of different styles to incredible effect throughout.

Ryan Coogler’s singular vision for vampires

Naturally, power attracts those that seek it. Enter Remmick the vampire, played by a deeply sinister Jack O’Connell. First turning two white Klansmen, the three soon set their sights on The Juke during its opening night in hopes of turning all those inside into vampires, giving the ‘gift’ of their curse.

It’s hard to understate how incredible the genre-turn in the film is. Though there are hints of vampirism throughout the film, it’s not until The Juke’s opening night that the film descends into bloody chaos. When it’s time for a small group of partygoers to hold off a hundred vampires, the sequence is absolutely electric. The use of squibs and practical effects are fantastic throughout Sinners, making the violence throughout that much pulpier and delightful to witness.

The bloodsuckers in Sinners are more than just mindless drones, though: they’re deeply intertwined with the film’s themes. The threat of Coogler’s vampire is assimilation and exploitation, the flattening of culture into something literally undead that’s only kept alive by cursed power and hate.

The vampires of Sinners partly serve as a representation of the capitalist system, attempting to co-opt Black culture in some twisted form of “acceptance” that forces the supposed gift of homogeneity onto artists with a strong vision in order to exploit them. Yet in the end, the film rejects the notion that culture needs to be literally consumed in this way to live on in perpetuity. The ecstatic displays of musical prowess throughout the film are proof that people like Sammie will have their own version of eternal life thanks to the passion of their playing.

Sinners is a deeply entertaining, thoughtful piece of filmmaking

Coogler conveys this all with a remarkably talented cast and crew who bring the sinewy, sexy world of Sinners to life. Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s IMAX cinematography is utterly sublime, with the film’s aesthetic practically its own character with its gorgeous colours and framing.

There are too many acting highlights to count, but I’d like to give special mentions to Hailee Steinfeld’s surprising turn, a fantastic Delroy Lindo and especially to Miles Caton as Sammie. Sinners is Caton’s acting debut after being a backup singer for H.E.R., and I would’ve never guessed! He of course nails the singing aspect, but it’s a tough role for a first-time actor given that Sammie is the real main character and emotional core of the film – congratulations to Caton on carrying that heart in his first ever film role.

It all makes Sinners one of the most utterly original, electrifying blockbusters to have been released in the 21st century thus far. Solidifying Ryan Coogler as a modern maestro of cinema, it’s a delicious mix of genre and themes that can come close to feeling overstuffed. Yet the confident delivery of those many ideas is what makes Sinners so authentically the work of Coogler, and thereby a ridiculously enjoyable piece of entertaining, thought-provoking cinema.

★★★★½

Sinners is in cinemas now. Catch it in IMAX, if you can!