Well, that was weird what happened within the religious world in the last few weeks. I was surreptitiously drawn into it last month when I met a friend of my uncle at a party, who grew up with a certain pontiff. At the time of this conversation, Robert Provost was just a cardinal. But while watching television on Thursday May 8th, my mother and I watched as Pope Leo XIV was ushered in as the new leader of the papacy. It got me thinking about holiness and its counterpart; and the tenuous relationship between them. This, of course, leads me into the movie Sinners.
Now, you might be asking, what does a film about vampires have to do God or even religion? However upon further examination, you don’t have to dig too deep to find parallels. Posters may make you think that Michael B. Jordan is the main character of the piece. But it is really Miles Caton’s Sammie to whom we are first introduced; beat up and disheveled as he stumbles into morning service, conducted by his own father. For this to start our tale, seems like there was purpose.
Flashback to the day before, we meet Sammie being picked up by his cousins Smoke and Stack. Brilliantly dressed in fine suits, Jordan’s swagger and detail to playing both sides of this coin is staggering. And it doesn’t feel like a gimmick, but a feature. Dual natures complement each other and doesn’t overshadow. As we learn of their gangster dealings in Chicago and want to open a juke joint down in Mississippi, all roads converge on an old saw mill purchased for the establishment. While rounding up food and help around town, both brothers and Cousin Sammie run into old friends and jilted lovers.
Delroy Lindo is such a sight for sore eyes. His recruitment at the railway station turns into a confrontation with Stack’s former lover Mary. Hailee Steinfeld and Jordan exude chemistry together. Meanwhile, Smoke returns to his former wife Anne in a heartbreaking scene. Wunmi Mosaku’s tearful monologue is one for the ages, so is Lindo’s during the car ride. His is one of embittered pain and anger that develops a theme we encounter later; how do you transcend hate when you have been consumed with it all your life?
This leads to the opening night and to Sammie’s musical stylings. In a moment of magical realism, his guitar playing manages to open a rift between the past and the future. All the shamans and singers seem to merge in a phantasmagoric sequence that aligns all genres and eras. We are introduced to this in an opening prologue, but not until this moment are we treated to it visually. Unfortunately, evil is summoned as well. Ryan Coogler has a way with writing complex villains that have the right ideas but take them to their horrible conclusions. Jack O’Connell creates a deliciously captivating one in Remmick, a vampire of Irish descent; a man who understands these peoples’ pain but not their joy. Like all vampires, he wants to consume body and soul. His coven takes on cult-like attributes as he turns characters one by one. The remaining few left in the saw mill must wait out the night.
Writer/director Ryan Coogler outdoes himself here, all roads have lead to this though. He brings his eye for characters and emotions from Fruitvale Station and Creed. His capabilities at spectacle derive from his work on Black Panther and even a bit of musical stylings from its sequel. Frequent collaborator Ludwig Göransson bring his A-game to the score, but back to that amazing debut from actor Caton. In the end, he must choose between blasphemous blues or saintly gospel. You must stay into the credits to find the answer. It would be a sin if you don’t.
