Sinners

1. In Theaters : 
2. Sinners

The Reel Review

A+

Identical twin brothers return from Chicago in 1932 to open up a juke joint near their rural hometown in the Mississippi Delta, only to discover that two horrors, of racist and of supernatural origins, await them on opening night. Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton star in this period horror/action thriller.

Writer/director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed, Fruitvale Station) achieves a masterful blend of the era’s horrific racism with riveting vampire horror, all set to a backdrop of wildly entertaining blues music. Sinners is unlike anything ever seen in film – the scene where Sammie’s blues playing conjures spirits both from the past and future is awe inspiring, as are the preceding, immersive scenes of Americana as the brothers gleefully round up friends along the deeply segregated main street to work at their juke joint. The inclusion of Chinese-Americans, who ran 70% of the grocery stores catering to Black Americans in the Delta during that era, shows a significant nod to historical accuracy.

Michael B. Jordan deftly juggles the tricky dual roles of the twin brothers with ease, with an outstanding Wunmi Mosaku (Deadpool & Wolverine, Lovecraft Country) as Annie the local occultist/estranged wife of one of the brothers, and newcomer Miles Caton having a career-defining film debut as the preacher’s son/juke joint entertainer Sammie. The inclusion of eight-time Grammy award winning blues icon Buddy Guy as the older Sammie during the haunting closing credits is a nice touch. Coogler has a serious Oscar contender on his hands.

REEL FACTS

• Director Ryan Coogler says the two biggest influences for his film were 1996’s From Dusk Till Dawn and 1998’s The Faculty, both directed by Robert Rodriquez.

• Longtime Coogler collaborator and double Oscar winner Ludwig  Göransson (Oppenheimer, Black Panther), who composed the film’s score, has worked on all of Coogler’s projects since attending the University of Southern California Film School together. Göransson performed the film’s score on a 1932 Dobro Cyclops resonator guitar, the same one Sammie carries throughout the film.

• Miles Caton, who learned to play blues guitar after being cast as Sammie, says he didn’t know he was auditioning for a vampire horror until after he was cast.