Ryan Coogler’s directorial skills reach new heights in his latest collaboration with Michael B. Jordan, creating a truly iconic Southern Gothic horror.
Sinners
Directed by Ryan Coogler
Starring Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Miles Canton, Li Jun Li
Runtime: 2 hours, 17 mins
Synopsis
Twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Jordan, in dual roles) return to their hometown of Clarksdale, MS, to start a juke joint and reunite with old friends and family as a dark entity encircles them, hoping to steal an ancient power from their cousin (Canton).
**Minimal Spoilers Ahead**
**Spoilers Are Flagged So You Can Avoid As Needed**
The Mythology of Blues
It’s rare to get Blues music featured as the driving force of a film. I mean, sure, it will be featured in a soundtrack here or there, or thrown onto a Viagra commercial, but outside of biographical movies, it’s rare for the music to take center stage.
In the brief films that have centered it, like The Blues Brothers (1980) or Crossroads (1986), they focus or defer too much to white protagonists, typically stewarded through the world with “mammies” or “magical negroes” (for more on these harmful stereotypes, check out the reviews for American Fiction and American Society of Magical Negroes). In a sense, they become a sort of Blues version of Driving Miss Daisy (1989) while ignoring a wealth of Black-centered stories and connections that could have been exemplified.
Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson in Black Snake Moan (2006)
Credit: Paramount
Black Snake Moan (2006), with its numerous flaws, is arguably the best non-biographical Blues representation we have received until this point. Despite the gravitas that Samuel L. Jackson can bring to a role, this film still ends up repeating or falling into similar magical negro tropes as one Black man uses his blues music and religiosity to heal a broken white woman.
It should come as no shock that Ryan Coogler, dwelling on the Blues music and history he learned from his Uncle James Edmonson, would be able to craft a better narrative, one that recognizes and honors Blues music as the originator it is. That attention pays off, by not simply having token music in the background, but music that clues us into what different characters are feeling, teasing the chaos ahead, or simply connecting the audience to the rich history of African / Black American music.
Credit: Warner Bros Pictures
It’s that connection to the complicated history of Blues music that elevates its inclusion. Rather than merely working as a MacGuffin, it’s intrinsically vital for Sammie (Caton) to keep playing his music, because it represents his way out of Mississippi, invalidates his father’s religious hold over him, and keeps him grounded into the past and future of his kinsmen.
**Slight Spoilers Ahead**
While this is beautifully highlighted in Sammie’s song “I Lied to You,” I actually think it’s arguably more important when Sammie sings in the film’s final scene, portrayed as an older musician by the great Buddy Guy. If “I Lied To You” represents the overall thematic and supernatural powers Sammie wields, then the older version of himself playing “Travelin’” represents something closer to reality. I know, shocking in a film about vampires and supernatural powers, but this is what Coogler means when he has described how re-listening to Blues music allowed him to “conjure” or see his uncle again. In the mid-credit scene, Sammie is able to reconnect to his younger self, the same one who was riding along with Stack decades ago, and remember how amazing that day was before all the chaos broke out. If Sammie’s music and ability came off as a simple plot device, it wouldn’t have created nearly the same emotional impact or force.
**Spoilers Over**
Working with long-time collaborator Ludwig Göransson (fresh off his Oscar win for 2023’s Oppenheimer), Coogler enlists the help of various Clarksdale and surrounding Delta-area musicians, like Bobby Rush, Cedric Burnside, and Sharde Thomas-Malloy, to breathe life into the score and soundtrack, while wisely utilizing new star Miles Caton to actually perform his character Sammie’s songs.
That performance pays off, because the camera never cuts away to show someone else playing, keeping the action on Sammie, especially when he metaphysically “burns the house down” with the supernatural. It also helps that Caton sounds amazing; his initial shyness on-screen melts away when he starts to sing, bringing out a voice and energy that validates the trust his cousins Smoke and Stack are placing in his ability. It also validates Coogler’s decision to put the actor front and center as Caton carries his moments flawlessly.
From Dawn Til Never
I fear we really have reached the bottom of media literacy when online commentators / fans use Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) as simple shorthand to explain or wave away the immaculate creation Ryan Coogler has presented us.
Credit: Miramax
Sure, there are simple plot points the two movies share… (slight spoilers here in case you’ve avoided it until now)
Two brothers stumble into a bar that, surprise! It’s full of vampires! Now, survive until morning!
That…that’s it.
Reducing movies to their most basic elements can actually be a helpful exercise to see if you understand the thrust of the plot, and then fill in the gaps with the movie’s context to see what’s presented narratively vs presented as subtext. Only judging a movie on that thinly pressed examination, however, is extremely disingenuous.
The music legacy notwithstanding, these two films have nothing to do with each other once you add context back in: Sinners is upfront about its impending supernatural chaos, whereas Dawn executes a genre flip halfway through (which is totally fine, but has a different impact than Sinners).
Southern Complexity
Sinners works ultimately because, on a Screenwriting 101 level, it showcases the horrors and joy of Black American life in the Jim Crow south, explaining what it needs to without hammering every single detail.
From Smoke and Stack’s time in Chicago working for rival gangs, Chinese immigrants running two different stores, or Mary’s racial ambiguity, these various elements serve to flesh out the story and time period while trusting the audience to connect or dig past what’s presented plainly. For example, Coogler didn’t need to give you a primer in Jim Crow dynamics, but presenting two grocery stores on the same street with different clientele did more work than telling us would have (show, don’t tell, remember?)
Credit: Warner Bros Pictures
This also works well in Mary’s case (played by Steinfeld) as plenty of audience members may not understand the concept of passing (having enough whiteness in your skin to “pass” as a white member of society). However, the way everyone reacts to her appearance or when she shows up to the juke joint fills in the gap quicker than a college course could. We understand why everyone is on edge, despite how much they may care for her, because she doesn’t comprehend how her presence there could compromise her ability to continue passing. Like Ruth Negga’s character Clare in Tessa Thompson’s movie Passing (2021), both passing women are playing with a fire that the world around them was all too eager to extinguish.
Additionally, threads teased earlier in the movie, like the twins’ time in Chicago, become more and more relevant to their experiences running the juke joint and why they may have more impending doom than vampires to worry about. It also rewards repeat viewing, as fans have already caught nuances in how the twins dress, how it relates to the liquor and beer they “acquired” from different gangs, and the trouble that could be nipping at their heels.
Credit: Warner Bros Pictures
What Sinners perfectly and quickly encapsulates, is what it means to be transported back in time, to feel like you’re living in a well-worn place. All of these stories, these threads fit well and support one another; they help sell the time period and situation our characters find themselves in. There’s no wasted dialogue; these characters immediately feel like they’ve known each other for decades, that they have experienced any number of loves, heartaches, and grief with each other. Sometimes, modern movie dialogue can feel frustrating as characters attempt to out quip each other, but there’s no such writer’s bravado or ego found here. Everyone gets their moment, sometimes to setup a laugh or pull at the heart string, but those moments are well-earned.
This back and forth also perfectly reflects what actual Blues music is attempting to express. Paraphrasing a historian I listened to in the Clarksdale Delta museum, “the worst thing that ever happened to Blues music was calling it sad”. Blues reflects a multitude of emotions and internal conflicts that Black Americans have experienced since they were ripped away from Africa. Instead of boiling it down to simply a sad song, like much of pop culture has repeatedly done, Sinners explores that multitude through each character’s hopes and flaws. In doing so, it easily becomes the best on-screen representation how Blues music actively shaped and reflected Black people’s lives.
Conclusion / Recommendation
Coogler’s time running massive Marvel ensembles coupled with a tight script likely contributed to just how well this cast performed. I would have a hard time imagining a more junior director pulling this off the same way, at least not without some missteps. In Sinners, he brings all of his directorial skill and vision into one masterpiece that honors the legacy of Blues music, utilizing it’s ability for storytelling and healing to tackle the dizzying mix of superstition, religious fervor, and racial terror that Black families lived during the 1930s. The result is something that reflects that complicated reality, perfection in execution and layered so well you can’t help but continue thinking about…
While Sinners is no longer showing in most theaters, it debuts this week on HBO Max, featuring a BASL (Black American Sign Language) option. I would also keep an eye out for another theater run around February, given the Oscar buzz this movie will certainly generate.
Score: 10 out of 10
- Bears Repeating- 10
- Sinners is a simple story, but one that also rewards repeat viewings due to how many layers of context are laid upon one another.
- Driven by the Music- 10
- It’s no small feat to weave an original soundtrack score with inspiration from iconic Blues legends, but Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson navigates it with ease.
- Southern Gothic- 10
- Sinners emulates the best elements of the Southern Gothic styling, tapping into classical horror tropes while avoiding the worst slasher cliches.
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