There are hardly any original ideas in movies anymore. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners riffed off from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), tough as nails movies about being African Americans in the South and I even noticed a minor plundering from Walter Hill’s Crossroads (1986) in terms of using Blues music as an anchor. But the thing is this – sometimes acting, writing, cinematography and direction can redeem any plot and make any story feel fresh as daises. Coogler’s magic act is in full display here; despite all the borrowings the movie manages to feel original and entertaining and I dare say it is this year’s first good movie.
The year is 1932, twin brothers Smoke (Michael B. Jordan) and Stack (Jordan) return to their Mississippi hometown after a stint with Al Capone. They are ready to confront their past and with an eye for the future they purchase an old mill with plans to create a juke joint. The brothers get to work roping in who they need to make the joint a success – Lisa (Helen Hu) and Bo (Yao) for supplies, Smoke’s old flame Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) to cook and Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to work the door. On the music front, they bring in bluesman Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) and their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), a preacher’s son who has a special gift around the guitar. Stack is also reunited with Mary (Hailee Steinfield) on the fateful opening night. A problem ensues in the form of Remmick (Jack O’Connell), a vampire seeking to build a flock of his own, the creature arrives at the juke joint with a plan to charm, and then to feed.
The Coogler-Jordan double whammy tag-team, which started with Fruitvale Station(2013), doesn’t know when to quit and this might be their strongest collaboration yet. The movie immerses you from the get-go into a 1932 Deep South and the threat of KKK is never far away. The dialogue feels culturally prescient and every line feels weighted with meaning and emotional heft. The cinematography frames the vast landscape beautifully, replete with splendour and yet dangers loom in the horizon. The balance between intimate character drama and high-stakes tension is a deft act. This being a Coogler story, the theme of being an African American in a cruel world is gloriously handled without feeling forced. It’s a story of struggle, a celebration of being Black, a political statement and it never forgets to be a helluva entertaining movie.
Smoke and Stack aren’t even the main characters; that privilege belongs to Sammie and the story is framed around his coming-of-age story. He has a god given set of guitar skills and a glorious voice. One of the most memorable scenes is his ability to conjure musicians from the past, present and future as he plays the six-string. In other hands it might look like a ludicrous scene, but never here. The blending of reality with the surreal almost feels like biblical grandeur. The blues music is also a character here and we are given a music lesson of its roots and its appropriation as played by the vampires later. With the movie, Coogler essentially takes back the Blues which began with the long suffering Blacks of the 1860s.
The movie balances a plethora of vivid characters, each with moments to shine, each with superb scenes in which they chew to perfection. The stand-out would have to be Michael B. Jordan who plays two characters with a fine delineation, embodying the turmoil of being torn between past sins and a hope for absolution. The screenplay is whip-smart and never seeps down to being derivative, weaving themes of race, religion and reckoning in ways that feel urgent.
The action only comes in the last act and by then the stakes feel intense because you already know the characters and what they have to lose. The action spectacle is beautifully orchestrated with black humour peppering the dire proceedings. Perhaps the only small misstep is the horror element which doesn’t feel visceral but that’s just me.
I saw the movie in a theatre that only had 10 patrons including Choo and I. What a crying shame! But this is the state of cinema in my country now. I could only imagine watching this in a full house with the biggest screen because the movie truly warrants a trip to the theatres for a collective experience. The movie has the uncanny to get under your skin and makes you think of the possibilities of great cinema. This is truly the first solid movie of the year.
4.5 / 5
