Matt at the Movies: "Sinners"
Skip the review and go see Sinners, which Matt highly recommends with a rare 9.0, calling the Coogler/Jordan collaboration "about as much fun as you can have on an adult night out."
In a Nutshell
It’s 1932. Twin brothers named Smoke and Stack Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan) have returned to their home in the Mississippi Delta after a career of soldiering then bootlegging for crime syndicates in Chicago. They plan on opening up a juke joint that features music, dancing, gambling, and all of the vices that make living during Jim Crow and Prohibition a little more bearable.
This is an all-in-a-day film that follows the brothers as they put together the human components of their speakeasy with familiar friends and faces from their past lives. We are fully immersed in the small world of Clarksdale, with all of the period trappings of segregation, race relations, and Black culture.
When the opening night kicks off, we are engulfed by blues, jazz, gospel, and soul music from both the past and future. As the hours wear on, you can feel an eerie presence in a three person white folk band led by an Irish immigrant named Remmick, who wants to join the festivities but is denied. They in fact are vampires, and the night takes quite a turn as we move into the third act, when the real action begins.
Time is Money, Why Should I Go?
Not to get on a soapbox, but excellent, original R-rated films are not only rare in this age of IP drivel, but desperately needed to show studios that adults will show up to the cineplex. Director Ryan Coogler has escaped the Marvel and Rocky franchises, and is creating his first original work since his amazing 2013 debut, Fruitvale Station (also starring Jordan).
Coogler knocks it out of the park.
I was locked in from the opening credits, a credit to the director’s choices with regard to set design, editing, costumes, and especially the use of score and diegetic music to enhance every scene. Two-time Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson once again brings his A-game to put the pulse behind the fast paced story arc.
Backstories and exposition occur naturally as the movie progresses so they don’t seem like a chore. Coogler builds tension from the brothers’ pasts, as well as the vampire aspect which - thankfully - doesn’t feel forced. Ideas of faith, race, and identity are woven into the script, but never hit you over the head as the director trusts that you can fit the pieces of this world together yourself.
It’s a sincere work from a sincere artist, and Coogler even wrote a heartfelt thank you letter to all of the supporters of the film. I can’t wait to see what he does next to try and keep pace with the ferocity of this film.
Star of the Show
The star(s) of the film are none other than Michael B. Jordan, who plays both twin brothers Smoke and Stack.
Many of us have followed Jordan since his first major role as tragic teenage drug dealer Wallace on HBO’s The Wire. Seeing him in Coogler’s Fruitvale Station had me thinking his star power would fly past the moon. Jordan found major success in the Creed trilogy and Black Panther, but I started to see him as more of a strong faced lead than having amazing range as an actor.
Playing twins who appear in the same scenes can look awkward or distracting - we’ve seen it before in the The Social Network and the Tom Hardy showcase Legend - but not but Coogler and Jordan play it deftly. You can see the smoldering and calculated soldier qualities of Smoke who is always looking after his sweet-talking, trouble-making brother Stack. They are each distinct characters (unlike Armie Hammer’s Winklevoss Twins), and play off one another without coming off as too much. In fact the whole movie comes off as cool and underlying instead of over the top which is a tip to Jordan and Coogler.
Don’t Sleep On
Miles Caton, who makes his film debut as Smoke and Stack’s little cousin Sammie "Preacher Boy" Moore.
Sammie comes from a deeply religious family, and picks cotton as a sharecropper. His father wants Sammie to leave his “sinful” other life as an aspiring musician, but to the Preacher Boy it’s his way out of the Delta. Sammie lives and dies for the music, and not even the Devil will keep him down.
Canton was just as convincing acting as singing, and set the tone for the film behind his guitar. The real-life musician - who toured with acts like H.E.R. and was sampled on Jay-Z’s 4:44 - seems to have all the tools to be a bigger star in the future.
Editor’s Note: We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention blues legend Buddy Guy appears in the film, though we’ll keep a lid on the reasons why.
Best Ten Minute Stretch
The most divisive stretch in the film was also its most fantastical. In the second act, as things really get moving at the juke joint, we are treated to a music and dance montage. This montage blends the present and past with various cultural influences, reaching a euphoric fever pitch.
We transcend time, faith, and feel every sultry dance step in a completely refreshing version of a technique that Coogler and Jordan are well acquainted with after multiple entries in the Rocky franchise. This montage, however, was both bold and new, hitting the tone of Coogler’s vision to a T.
Coulda Used More …
Dare I say vampire lore?
We get some good context to lead ghoul Remmick, but I wanted more From Dusk Till Dawn or Demon Night action in the third act to make it more over the top. It was probably the one part of the story where Coogler showed restraint, leaving it up to the theater goers.
Matt at the Movies Score
Highly Recommend - 9.0
About as much fun as you can have on an adult night out!