Sinners is Ryan Coogler's first big studio film not based on any pre-existing IP, and the fact that the film features twin brothers who return home from the big city striving to create something all their own in spite of the literal gold-white vampires who tempt them with offers a telling look into the filmmaker's journey in Hollywood. The film delivers striking performances from its ensemble cast while juggling a vast array of themes concerning culture and history.
Michael B. Jordan leads the film in a dual role as the twins Smoke and Stack, a task the actor tackles with aplomb. The twins' return to Mississippi causes a bit of noise in their hometown, and it's clear the two have a strong reputation, and not a particularly good one. On the first day of their return, Smoke and Stack purchase an abandoned warehouse with the aim of turning it into a juke joint. As the two split up to get their ducks in a row to open the bar up that same evening, Coogler opens up the world Smoke and Stack left behind, including past lovers, the plantation fields, cousins and uncles, and their old friends and associates.
Opening night proves to be an initial success; the entire town comes out for a good time, the food is hot and the drinks are plentiful. Coogler, with the help of editor Michael P. Shawver and composer Ludwig Göransson, creates one of the most stunning musical sequences put to film this century. Not only a visually and sonically enriching experience, Coogler's incorporation of the history of music and culture coats the entire film in a deeply meaningful patina that helps provide more significance to the story's vampirical elements.
The shift from period drama to vampire thriller stumbles slightly, feeling ever so clunky, but once we sink our teeth into the demonic themes and understand their place, Sinners becomes an impressive film with plenty to say about our society — yesterday, today and tomorrow. Plenty of thinkpieces can, and should, be written about the film and its use of the immortal undead to represent white America, the way Asian and Black communities have long benefitted from one another culturally and economically, and the importance of music to express trauma and joy — the list goes on.
As a piece of filmmaking, Sinners stands strong, but the highlight of the film comes from the passion and audacity of Coogler to incorporate a multitude of issues, and his ability to service each of them. Its importance goes beyond what we typically expect from movies.
Coogler's imprint on film, from Fruitvale Station to the Creed and Black Panther franchises, already established him as a thoughtful talent deserving of our attention. With Sinners, Coogler proves he's an absolute force.