Sinners: A Ryan Coogler Masterclass
Credit: Joan Hernandez Mir https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
The film Sinners by Ryan Coogler recently premiered in America on the weekend of April 18th to mass critical acclaim. The film serves as the fifth installment in Ryan Coogler’s incredibly impressive directing catalog, including some great films like Black Panther, Creed, and Fruitvale Station. It is the first time Coogler has immersed himself in the original horror film genre, as many of his previous films are big-budget franchise movies. He has once again teamed up with actor Michael B. Jordan, in what is becoming one of the all-time director-actor duos similar to Scorsese and Dicaprio, or Tarantino and Samuel Jackson. Many people had high hopes for the film, and it has most definitely lived up to those expectations, gaining around $50 million at the box office, scoring 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, and an 8.2 on IMDb.
The film is centered around two twins, Smoke and Stack, both played by Jordan, who return to their hometown to set up a Jukebox Joint after they worked for Al Capone in Chicago for seven years. During the opening hour of the film, Coogler follows the journey of the twins as they recruit people to work in their Jukebox Joint. All of the characters like Preacher Boy, played by Miles Caton in his first ever film, and Mary, played by Hailee Steinfeld, establish great first impressions, all playing important parts in the plot. Preacher Boy plays incredible blues music; however, he is told by his father, who is a preacher, that his music brings about the devil. It turns out that his father is correct, as a group of vampires invades Smoke and Stack’s Jukebox Joint on their opening night as the group inside fights for survival.
In this film, Coogler combines a vampire film with incredibly powerful messages and a great plot in what feels like the first true original film in a long time. An original movie is rarely made today, as all films feel like a sequel or part of a large cinematic universe, so it is incredibly refreshing to watch a movie that is created out of pure creativity. Some people have come out critiquing the pacing of the movie, but that is an unjust criticism. The first hour is spent learning the characters’ personalities and background, but with Coogler’s innovative directing, he still manages to make that part of the film great to watch. Also, Coogler’s world-building engages the viewers, and they care far deeper for the characters later in the movie. The plot is interesting, without being unnecessarily hard to follow, which many directors are guilty of nowadays. There are also plenty of important messages about celebrations of African-American culture throughout the film.
Another thing that the film speaks about is the power of music. The music in the film is composed by Ludwig Göransson, who has also composed for films like Oppenheimer and Black Panther, which also have phenomenal soundtracks. Preacher Boy’s blues songs that he plays in the Jukebox Joint don’t just entertain; they literally call the dead, and they force characters to face ancestral trauma. This supernatural link that music brings shows the ability of music to bridge generations and carry collective memory. This message about the power of music is much easier to make because of how truly superb Göransson’s composing is, matched with Coogler’s directing. These two elements are put front and center during a scene in the middle of the film in a single camera shot that runs through the Jukebox Joint, showing the evolution of music and African-American culture, in what is one of the single best scenes in modern cinema.
Sinners is one of the few movies released today that is truly special. Ryan Coogler’s directing brings to life characters that viewers grow to love throughout the film, and Michael B. Jordan delivers an all-time performance by perfectly portraying two great characters with opposite personalities in the same movie. It is a film that will be remembered amongst the all-time greats, and it is only the beginning of Coogler’s career as he will surely direct more great movies.