Sinners (2025, R)

*Premise spoilers.*

Oh my god. This movie! I was hyped the first time I heard about it, the trailer looked amazing, and I walked into the theater with soaring expectations. And it was so much better than I’d even imagined! Ryan Coogler really is that dude—he’s such an incredible filmmaker. I saw it a few weeks ago, but with all the Andor/Doctor Who stuff going on, it took me a while to get my review written.

What’s It About?

Sammie, the son of a preacher in 1932 Mississippi, is enlisted by his older cousins to play the blues at their new juke joint. Twins Smoke and Stack have just returned from Chicago flush with cash, and they’ve set up an establishment where sharecroppers and shopkeepers can dance and drink the night away. Sammie’s music creates something ascendant—everyone in the joint can feel it, but so can the monsters across the way. Three vampires, lured in by the preacher boy’s veil-piercing song, have come to call.

Who’s in It?

Michael B. Jordan does double-duty here as Smoke and Stack. It admittedly helps that they dress in different styles to distinguish them visually, but Jordan’s performance always shows which twin is which, and not in a particularly showy way. I’m always down for Hailee Steinfeld in stuff, and she’s terrific as Mary, a one-drop-rule woman who lives in white society but feels more at home with the twins and their crew. Wunmi Mosaku, who I adored in Lovecraft Country, does a bang-up job as Annie, a woman who works root and is most equipped to recognize the threat they’re facing. Delroy Lindo tears it up as Delta Slim, an old blues player who’s brought in to play at the juke joint. I couldn’t figure out how I knew Remmick, the main vampire, but it turns out he’s played by Jack O’Connell (I still remember him best as Cook in the second generation of Skins.) Another couldn’t-quite-place-her face was Li Jun Li as local shopkeeper Grace—Li played Jenny on Wu Assassins.

Those are the actors I knew, but I have to shout out a few more who were new to me. Miles Caton plays Sammie, our main viewpoint character. He does a nice job with his acting, and his singing is so earthy and compelling, I can believe his voice could open a door to the spirit world. Jayme Lawson isn’t new-new—I’ve seen her in a couple small roles—but she makes an impression here as Pearline, a soulful singer that Sammie has his eye on. I also really enjoy Yao as Grace’s husband Bo; the two have really great chemistry together. Honestly, though, I could name basically everybody in the cast. Everyone here brings their A game.

What Do I Love About It?

·        Speaking of A game? That goes for the movie as a whole. Not one person on this production was slacking. The direction, the acting, the cinematography, the costumes, the musical numbers, the action, the script, the choreography on the sex scenes…. Every single element works together to create a stunning whole.

·        I mentioned the music already, but I really have to talk about this. The music scenes are simply fantastic, both in the talent of the performers and in how the songs are used to tell the story. The scene of Sammie performing at the juke joint is the runaway pinnacle of a film that was already firing on all cylinders!

·        I love that the movie takes so much time getting started. We open on an ominous flash forward, and we get little hints of the vampires throughout the first portion of the film, but it takes a long time to get to the vampire story in earnest. The film gradually introduces us to all the human characters, letting us get to know them and their dynamics with each other, making us care about them before they’re put in such danger.

·        The themes on display are absolutely *chef’s kiss* The plot itself is pretty straightforward, which leaves plenty of space to explore the characters and what the film has to say. For just a few highlights, we look at the consumption and appropriation of Black culture that tries to divorce it from the Black people who make it, the place Irish immigrants had in America at this time and how that type of marginalization interacts with the Jim Crow South, the lives of sharecroppers who are designed to always toil and never own, and the importance of family, in whatever shape that takes. I’ve already seen book lists going around for post-Sinners further study—this movie offers up a feast of ideas to unpack.

Warnings

Graphic violence (including a description of a lynching,) sexual content, language (including racial slurs,) drinking/smoking, and strong thematic elements.