FROM THE BAYOU OF DANCING FANGS.
- groundtenpro
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
THE FILM STUDIO POWERHOUSE TAG TEAM COOGLER AND JORDAN HAVE CREATED ANOTHER MASTERPIECE THAT LEAVES YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT AND A WOOD STAKE IN HAND
SINNERS FILM REVIEW
Content shots are web-sourced not owned
I'm going to start off giving this powerhouse tag team their congratulations on another electrifying film. I believe this is a film that has stamped them both as pure creatives of the craft, and I'll explain why later. For now, let's jump into this spiritual, guitar-playing, river-dancing, booze-drinking, vampire-slaying movie.
For those who have not seen it yet, there will be spoilers — so have fun with this read or come back after you've watched.
This movie, Sinners, has taken the cake this year with plot twists. Ryan Coogler's brilliant storytelling left me emotional in all the right and wrong ways. We know there has been a significant drop in true character development in cinema for many years. Yes, some of the top writers and directors have kept it alive like the Nolans, Villeneuves, etc., but with the age of streaming and microwaved attention spans, have let people wanting to get to the arc of the film within the first ten minutes — if not, it’s on to the next.
Michael B. Jordan’s characters, Smoke and Stack (southern twins who return home for some old memories and a quick payday), have the audience feeling like distant cousins trying to figure out what they've been up to and what their next plans are. I enjoyed the story of the twins coming home to be, for lack of a better term, "aggressive entrepreneurs." It gives you insight into their business mindset while still revealing their habits, and although they are twins, their personalities are like night and day.
There are plenty of interviews you can watch of Mike speaking on the building process to play the two different characters. What I like most about the film is actually the separation. Having the twins split up at the beginning of the film was a smart; it gives us some time to see who they are apart from each other, and their separate lives.
It's always a bit strange watching a well-known actor play identical twins in a film, as the role's allure becomes eclipsed by the attention given to how the shots were filmed; such as body placement of the characters and keeping track of matching lines to see if they are in sync. Ryan gives us good time alone with Smoke and Stack, showing us they've built good and bad relationships together and separately, all in the same neighborhood.
This entire film takes place in one day, although Ryan says in an interview the film was a fun, anxious, yet focused three-month process to create — which is relatively quick for any film to be made, especially by a director of his caliber who’s worked on films like Avengers, which took years to film.
The storyline feels long due to the characters introduced throughout the day — from their soul-singing cousin to their overly thirsty music piano player. The hot sun beaming down on everyone working on plantations, and all about hustles makes us feel the toll of the day.
With the timestamp stemming from the early 1930s in Mississippi, you can feel those days were long and the nights were longer. Speaking of nights — the twins and their booze, blues,dancing neighbors had a strange one indeed; With a group of unwelcomed “friends” crashing the party — whose hunger didn't start or stop at food — the overly excited "friends" also share their love for music and culture.
Although they had a spooky way of showing their talents, they did not miss their mark. Who knew vampires could carry a tune?
I never thought I could relate to an Irish, river-dancing vampire, but Remmic (actor Jack O'Connell’s character) left me thinking: through music and culture, we are really just one people divided and scattered around the world, singing different tunes but still being fueled by our cultures and heritage.
It wouldn’t be an official review from me if I didn’t nerd out over the camera angles captured throughout the film. You completely understand why IMAX made so much sense when it came to watching — because of the unique yet immersive perspectives of the characters and scenes.
Ryan and Autumn Durald had a clear-cut vision of how they saw the characters moving through the day and displayed it to us beautifully and tastefully. Their lenses, f-stops, lighting, and more left me leaning forward and back in the theater seat.
Combined with the angles was the boisterous yet soothing music — which left you feeling excited, confused, anxious, vulnerable, and curious throughout the film. The film shows you the transcendence music can take you to, and the trance of those same sounds can make you stop breathing.
I'm not a fan of musicals, but Ryan disguises powerful messages through the music of cultures and time, as if mixing candy with the medicine.
Like Mike tells Coogler, he’s not the biggest fan of horror films' I stand with him. The genre has never really interested me either, but that didn't stop Ryan from leaving the audience splattered with vampire blood in a chaotic scene within the film.
For a second, you feel like Tarantino is standing right next to Ryan, whispering in his ear, "More. More blood."
The film is a complete rollercoaster from beginning to end — with you leaving the theater thinking about spirituality, culture, love, betrayal, acceptance, and whether you should start learning to make wooden spikes and garlic necklaces.
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