Ryan Coogler, highest grossing Black film director in history has done it again with a force that blends supernatural horror, historical drama, and music storytelling into one singular original film. Set in 1930’s Jim Crow Mississippi Delta, we follow twin brothers Smoke and Stack Moore, portrayed as a dual role by the famous muse Micheal B. Jordan.
The twins return to their hometown after some time up in Chicago to open up their own juke joint for their fellow black community. However, their bliss was cut short as the classic vampire allegory appears. Irish-immigrant Remreick is lulled by the soulful blues song by the twins’ little cousin Sammie, named after his Uncle’s wife and played by rising star Miles Canton. Family and roots played a pivotal role in the making of this original film. In interviews, Coogler explains his maternal side as they came from the Mississippi Delta before moving along with the second great migration to Oakland, California. Coogler’s Uncle James Edmonson introduced him to the blues. He recalls that his Uncle used to play it after work, along with an Old Taylor Whiskey.
“And I associated that music with him. You know, I never felt like it belonged to me. It felt like it was music for — you know, for older people.”
Unfortunately Coogler’s Uncle passed away in 2015, and to comfort the loss Coogler began to listen to the blues more as it reminded him of him.
“And if I did it enough, I would feel like he was there with me, almost like I was conjuring his spirit. And the base to the idea started with that.”
If you have seen it, music plays a very vital role in Sinners. There is a strong argument to be made that the Delta blues is our country’s most important contribution to global culture, as it inspired the renaissance of music. From rock and roll, to country, and eventually hiphop that shocked the world, it was the cornerstone. For a long time in the music industry because of race and American apartheid, if a black artist sang something and a white artist did the same song the music industry would label them different genres. To keep up the divide.
“So, I wanted to make a film that was kind of raging against the concept of genre and making the audience constantly question it, even while they were watching it, whether that’s genres of music or genres of filmmaking.”
Blues music is an art created while tindering the back breaking system of slavery in the south. It is said to have first started on Dockery Plantation, by a man called Charlie Patton. Who in the face of adversity along with the rest of our ancestors at the time, were able to not only survive, but affirmed their humanity in a world trying to strip them of it completely. And what better way to tell this narrative than by vampires lulled by a young Sammie whose voice sounds like butter, and is so strong it spiritually burnt down the joint?
Upon its release, Sinners, garnered great critical acclaim and of course commercial success bringing in over $351 million worldwide. It resonated so much that people are seeing it more than once making it one of the most domestically successful original films in about a decade, and of course making it the highest grossing horror film in history. First it began with the highest grossing film of its year and the highest grossing film ever made by a black person, Black Panther with 1.3 billion worldwide. Then Wakanda Forever, and now with Sinners, Coogler has been making large contributions to the culture since the beginning, and he’s barely even 40! One thing’s for sure, the world can’t wait for the next project.