Sinners

Ryan Coogler's undead nightmare is a riotous hell bound ode to the Blues.

In the bootleg south of 1930s America, gangster twins “Smoke” and “Stack” Moore played in both roles by Michael B. Jordan return to their town of Mississippi Delta to start a Juke Joint for their African American community. They recruit their young guitar playing cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) also known as “Preacher boy” due to his church pastor father, to play at their joint as they assembly old friends and flames to put on an opening night hoot. Their night of shameless carousing invites the unwanted presence of demonic forces led by red eyed folk singing Remmick (Jack O’ Connell) who has a toothy appetite for Sammie’s playing.

Django Unchained (2012) meets Lovers Rock (2020) and Shaun of the Dead (2004) is the best way to describe Creed (2015) and Black Panther (2018) director Ryan Coogler’s mad and muscular cocktion. It’s the sort of thing that shouldn’t work on paper, yet Coogler weaves all these genres fearlessly and with a passionate purpose of emulating the spirit of the Blues, thrown in with some vampires that it make it for a wildly entertaining big screen ride.

Before the night of terror begins, Sinners wisely and slowly abides its time in the world of Smoke and Stack, as they prepare for their grand opening, Coogler allows for each core member of the ensemble to be given a fair and meaningful side to the story that makes their actions in the nightmarish standoff all the more meaningful when the biting gets going. Most notably this includes Wunmi Mosaku who plays Annie, Smoke’s estranged wife who has supernatural expertise and carries an emotional weight to her and Smoke’s love story, as well as the scene-stealing Delroy Lindo who plays the alcoholic piano player Delta Slim, Lindo gets to shine by smashing some hilarious one-liners as well as sharing poignant wisdom. The rest of the key supporting performers include Hailee Steinfeld as Stack’s ex-lover Mary, and shopkeepers Grace and Bo Chow played by Li Jun Li and Yao who assist in the running of Moore brother's club. Harnessing the scope of IMAX film serves Coogler’s picture with grandiose scale for Sinner's personal musical saga with adventurous dreamy camerawork in beautifully lit sun-drenched southern landscapes.

The “sinners” are the Black community of Mississippi Delta that Smoke and Stack invite for a night of liberating revelry whose only “sin” is the freedom they get to feel in their exclusive joint during a period where the racist authority forbids them from doing so. (Some Spoilers ahead) During this party, Coogler conducts a momentous sequence involving time and space colliding to the sound of Sammie’s playing, as the history and legacy of Black music is rapturously celebrated, in this moment the true soul of the movie is unleashed. Sammie’s pastor father claims that music is like ‘dancing with the devil’ , which is exactly what the vampiric Remmick intends to employ. The harmonising song creates a singular moment of bliss for the community which recalls Psalm 27- “Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord". It is this defiant whimsey that the blood sucking intruders wish to steal, the vampires themselves are an easy stand in for the white oppression and assimilation of the time that want to rid the Black community of any sense of identity and freedom that they have.

The music of Sinners becomes the central character of the movie with some dazzling harmonious interludes that range from heartfelt blues playing to Irish jigs led by a demonic Jack O’ Connell, underlain by Ludwig Göransson’s blazing score of western banjo and harmonica that rise to electric rock. It’s a sublime and unpredictable symphony in perfect tune to the rebellious nature of the story. Göransson cements himself to be an exciting master in cinematic composition, crafting one of the best movie soundtracks I have heard in a long time

The Shaun of the Dead comparison is particularly apt as when the hellish standoff begins there is comical and brutal violence ahead as well as some well-timed banter and humour thrown into the chaos. Coogler dresses a lot of these references on the sleave, as soon as Michael B. Jordan strips down to his white tank top, then things go full Die Hard. Jordan’s suave and tough demeanour crosses the genre shifts unfazed in this dual role that gets to dominate each scene twice with two distinct characters in his belt.

Sinners is a madcap cocktion of bloody vampiric horror and country singing that conjures soulful spirits of musical legacy and joyful brotherhood in a period of inescapable hate. It’s an absolute blast of bold exciting filmmaking that will leave you screaming and dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7joulECTx_U