Intensity: 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Ryan Coogler
Sinners proves positively that Ryan Coogler has mastered the art of making a horror blockbuster. He resides on a short list of directors who can not only deliver stunning artistic achievements, but at the same time knows how to please a demanding audience. Bathed in boozy, bluesy period atmosphere, it represents swampy cool, and celebrates the black experience of black culture in the 1930s Jim Crow South. Already a box office smash, the Academy should start preparing for another horror movie to crash the Oscar party come the next nomination period.
When I attended the Overlook Film Festival this past April, there was a lot of hope that Sinners would be the showcase film. After all, it was filmed in New Orleans and was due to be released later in May, so it stood to reason that it could receive a lift by playing in the run-up to big festivals: Sundance, SXSW, or Overlook prior to release. Many festival goers I talked to were surprised and slightly disappointed when it didn’t show up. I assured them that, given the pedigree, Warner Bros. probably knew they had a hit on their hands that didn’t need film festivals to get the word out. The movie would stand on its own.
I feel vindicated that my assumptions appeared correct. Sinners held a full house and WB knew it. Ryan Coogler may be the most sure thing when it comes to artistic blockbusters this side of Steven Spielberg. Michael B. Jordan is a bona fide A-list superstar that will put butts in seats. Fruitvale Station. Creed. Black Panther. And now, Sinners. That is an impressive track record that the two have assembled.
Make no mistake. This is a vampire movie, and it is an excellent representative of the theme. It is also a musical, and oh, what an immersive musical experience this is. Apparently, composer Ludwig Göransson possesses the soul of an old blues man. The movie immerses you in the ambiance of a 1930s rural juke joint, and we all want to be there. Come for the vampires, stay for the concert.
The Cast of Sinners
- Michael B. Jordan plays identical twin brothers, Smoke and Stack Moore, two men who left Mississippi to join Al Capone’s Chicago Outfit. They have returned home to the Delta with some ill-gotten gains to start a juke joint in their old hometown.
- Miles Caton as Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore, the Smoke Stack twins’ cousin. He is a gifted blues musician looking to play his way out of the Delta.
- Hailee Steinfeld as Mary, Stack’s ex-girlfriend from Chicago, whose fair appearance allows her to pass as a white woman despite her mixed heritage.
- Wunmi Mosaku as Annie, Smoke’s wife, and a practicing hoodoo shaman. She and Smoke lost an infant child, which distanced them.
- Yao plays Bo Chow, the town’s grocer, and Grace’s husband.
- Li Jun Li as Grace Show, Bo’s wife, also a grocer, with a talent for sign making.
- Jayme Lawson as Pearline, a lovely and talented singer, who catches Sammie’s eye. Unfortunately for Sammie, she’s married.
- Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim, who plays a mean piano and harmonica and is the resident town drunkard.
- Omar Millar as Cornbread, an enormous cotton sharecropper who could use some extra cash.
- Jack O’Connell as Remmick, a surprisingly charming Irish vampire.
- Peter Dreimanis and Lola Kirke play Bert and Joan, a KKK couple who receive an unexpected visitor who will change their lives.
A Short Synopsis of Sinners:
In the opening prologue, Sammie arrives at his father’s church just in time for the Sunday sermon. He is battered and torn, clutching what remains of his prized steel guitar in his hands. Sammie’s father had warned his son about the evil embodied in the blues, and it appears that the devil had come for him last night.
Flashing back to the day before, we learned what happened. The year is 1932. Sammie’s cousin, the Smoke Stack twins, have returned to Clarksdale, Mississippi as prodigal sons. They have made it big, arriving dressed in three-piece suits and driving a beautiful red convertible. The brothers served in World War I and made their fortune grifting other mobsters in Chicago with Al Capone. They use their blood money to purchase an old saw mill to convert it into a juke joint, where they can entertain their old community.
Smoke and Stack split up, recruiting several of their old friends to help them get the party going. First, they go to Sammie, whose musical talent is jaw-dropping. Sammie jumps at the opportunity to perform, and then they enlist Delta Slim to play the piano. The promise of fresh cold beer was all it took, and Delta Slim was in. Singer Pearline also agrees to perform, and the local grocers, the Chows, are brought in to provide the food, drink, and marketing.
Smoke returns to his estranged wife, Annie, and convinces her to cook the food for the party. But first, he visits his baby daughter’s grave behind Annie’s shop. Annie is a dabbler in the occult, which is a point of contention with Smoke, but she’s the best cook around, and he needs her. Old resentments of their baby’s death still linger. Lastly, Stack convinces big Cornbread to forgo picking cotton for a day to earn real money as a bouncer for the party. With the team assembled, the party is ready to start.
Vampires and the Party
Unbeknownst to anyone else in Clarkstown, Remmick stumbles his way to the home of Klan members Bert and Joan. Because Choctaw vampire hunters are pursuing him (they don’t know Remmick is a Vampire), they invite the vampire into their home, dooming them to be turned themselves. If only their racist beliefs didn’t get in the way, they might have survived the day.
As the sun goes down, the guests arrive for opening night at the newly minted dance hall, which takes very little time to get hopping. A good portion of the Delta community comes to the event, though many of them can’t afford to pay the full price for the food and drink. Sharecropping in the Jim Crow South does not pay well, and the Moore brothers have forgotten the economic state of the town that they left behind. Stack’s old girlfriend Annie has arrived to try to mend fences with Stack. As the energy pulses through the club, Annie and Stack rekindle their relationship. The music. The booze. The energy. It provides badly needed social lubricant for a town in need of excitement.
All of this ruckus attracts the vampires, who hear the music and arrive with their own instruments. They ask if they can come and play music and join the festivities. They play some bluegrass music with bravado, but Smoke and Stack don’t trust them. Not because they suspect them of being vampires, but because they may be something more dangerous. White strangers in a black establishment could cause problems if something goes wrong. So… no invitation. If you know the old rules of vampirism, that is a requirement.
The vampires remain patient, though, playing music in the field out in front of the old mill. Eventually, the opportunity presents itself, and they turn one of the partygoers who returns to the party, allowing the vampirism to enter the juke joint. Soon, other guests are turned, and the vampires, whose ranks have swelled, lay siege to the mill. Annie knows the rules of vampires, and the surviving party goers gear up for a fight for survival.
An Evaluation of Sinners:
The first two acts of the movie are transportive. It is such an original take, and the authenticity flows like a river through the picture. Ryan Coogler is on top of his game here, and the top-flight cast allows what is essentially a 1930s period piece drama to become one of the most surprising hits of the year. The film takes conventional and familiar tropes and dresses them up with a context so rich you can practically taste and smell the movie. All the little details are right. From the costumes to the sets, and particularly… the music.
There is a singular moment that tells you that this movie is special. It is a continuous running one-er that starts with Sammie playing some Robert Johnson-inspired 12-bar Delta blues. While that was enthralling by itself, a funk guitarist appears next to him, in full Bootsie Collins garb, dropped straight from the mothership. Then, tribal African drummers appear in the crowd, along with some Peking Opera Chinese performers, and it culminates with a hip-hop DJ, all in one big swirling display of cinema bravado. This was an examination of the diaspora of music from Africa (and a little bit of Asia), and it absolutely soared. Not to be left out, the Appalachian Irish-fold tinged bluegrass music was also beautifully rendered. A standing ovation to Coogler and Göransson, please.
If this were graded on its musical use alone, Sinners would be an S-tier movie. As a horror movie, it plays it considerably safer, though. I really enjoyed using the invitation requirements for vampires, which played a crucial role multiple times in the movie. The wooden stakes, garlic, flight, sunlight weakness, all of the classic vampire tropes are here, and are very clever in usage. However, like Black Panther, the key battle sequence of the film felt rushed and underdeveloped compared to the care and craft displayed throughout the first two acts. The closing segment with Smoke going full-gangster was cathartic, but seemed incongruous with much of the rest of the story.
Concluding Thoughts about Sinners:
My gosh, what an entertaining movie! This movie thrilled and inspired me, with some moments that will be remembered for generations. However, it isn’t perfect. The decision-making by a number of the characters late in the movie seemed ill-advised, particularly when a little bit of patience would have given the survivors an outright win. That said, I will again reference Black Panther, perhaps the greatest superhero movie ever made, which was still a flawed movie.
If you can find this movie still playing in an IMAX theater, go see it there. It is bathed in so much cool sauce that you might be overcome with the experience. I know I’m a little late to the party on the reviews, but trust the main body of the film critic analysis, this is an instant classic, flaws and all.
Sinners received an R rating from the MPAA for strong bloody violence, sexual situations, and language. The sexual content is stronger than some parents would be willing for younger children to see, but more mature teenagers would appreciate the film. Sinners is still playing in Cinemas in wide release, as repeat watching is definitely part of this movie’s box office story. ($290 million and counting) Betting odds for a sequel? Pretty high.