Sinners – Dir: Ryan Coogler (13th Floor Film Review)
The Cotton Club crossed with from Dusk to Dawn…the bodacious, bold, and brilliant Sinners will pull you in and whirl you around the juke joint, leaving you breathless, blood spattered and extremely satisfied.
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Delroy Lindo
Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) makes his horror debut with a Southern Gothic masterpiece which feels like the first real blockbuster of 2025.
Michael B Jordan plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack (geddit?), freshly returned to their hometown of Clarksdale Mississippi after seven years spent fighting in WWI and finding their fortunes in Chicago’s ganglands. Determined to capitalize on their casino winnings by opening a Juke joint and watching the money flow in from the local punters who have little else to look forward to after a grueling day in the cotton fields.
In pursuit of their goal, they purchase a barn from Southern white guy cliché Hogwood, played with tobacco chewing loathsomeness by David Maldonado.
When the brothers warn Hogwood that any infiltration of their newly acquired property by himself or his Klan “buddies” will result in shots fired, his, “shit, the Klan don’t exist no more” reassurance is accompanied by the kind of shit eating grin that strongly suggests that there should be a “yeah, right” at the end of that sentence.
Eager to ensure that their new venture is a toe tapping success, the brothers Smoke & Stack recruit Sammy (Miles Caton), the son of a preacher man, possessed – perhaps in more ways than one – of an otherworldly gift for playing the blues, and Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) the local inebriate who also happens to be a man of exceptional musical talent.
The final recruits to the startup crew are twin’s old buddy and the town grocer Chayton (Nathaniel Arcand) and his feisty sign writer wife Grace (Li Jun Li).
Completing the core ensemble, are the women that the two men left behind when they moved away. Purveyor of charms and potions Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) the mother of Smoke’s deceased child and Stack’s old paramour the white-passing Mary, caught between two worlds and belonging fully to neither.
On a side note, it is such a joy to see the number of strong female characters in Sinners and the way that each one is given the opportunity to step up and take their turn in the spotlight.
The group set to work to swiftly transform the barn into a place where the would-be entrepreneurs can offload their cache of booze procured from Chicago under shady circumstances. Or as Mary puts it “Irish Whisky and Italian beer, you robbed both sides, and they blamed it on each other”
The barn becomes a dance hall, the stage is set, the punters are pouring through the door…let the music commence.
And what music it is, the blues forms the foot stomping, soul searing, pounding heart of Sinners and this is never more evident than in the movie’s feverish whirling dervish of a centrepiece when Sammy quite literally, unleashes hell, with his father’s old guitar.
But the true Devil’s music comes not from the sexually charged energy on the juke joint’s dance floor but instead from a band of undead folk musicians (I know!) led by the charmingly terrifying Remmick (Rogue Heroes’ Jack O’Connell) who are drawn in from the shadows by Sammie’s musical stylings, and attempt to coerce the necessary invitation to cross the threshold by offering up their own brand of musical quid pro quo.
Unfortunately for the would-be gate crashers, doorkeeper Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) and the Stack brothers sense that something is amiss and send them packing.
Unfortunately for the brother’s strict “no weird white folk” door policy, an intrigued Mary, with an eye to boosting the evening’s somewhat underwhelming takings, (turns out that sharecropper’s wages don’t equate to a high bar spend), follows the toothsome trio into the night to offer them, and their money, an opportunity to plead a case for admission.
And in case you have ever wondered what a band of Vampiric folk singers crooning “Wild Mountain Time” might sound like, the answer is, surreal and creepy, but also excellent.
Unfortunately for Mary, and everyone else with a pulse, by leaving the relative safety of the dancehall she has effectively offered herself up as an appetiser.
What follows is a full-on, blood-soaked extravaganza of a battle to the undeath between the monstrous minstrels and the blues crew.
There are obvious metaphors throughout Sinners, and it does not take a rocket scientist to understand that the real danger to the brother’s and their community comes from far less supernatural forces than Remmick and his banjo picking band of bloodsuckers.
However, there is a deeper question raised here, what is the cost of freedom and autonomy and is it worth (in this case literally) sacrificing your soul for.
Three days later and I am still pondering that one.
Jo Barry
Sinners opens in cinemas today. Click here for tickets and showtimes
