“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.”
Louisiana, the 1930s, tons of makeup effects, Michael B. Jordan, IMAX…
From the mind of director Ryan Coogler, there has never been a film that has the combination of this genre, music, humor, drama, suspense, and history that Sinners has. Souls are possessed not out of bloodlust but as a need to break the veil between the past, present, and future. The sounds of home and joy transform the realities of oppression and loss.
Set in 1932, twins Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore (both played by Jordan) return home to Mississippi after years of working for Al Capone in Chicago. Despite their many years away from the place they call home and the lives they tried to forget, Mississippi is still stuck in one of America’s darkest times: Jim Crow. But the brothers have a plan to use their money and liquor to open up a juke joint — a bar with live music — for the Black community. A place to forget, make new connections, and build communities.
During their return, Stack and Smoke reconnect with the loves of their lives, Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), and along with their friends in the community, help run the place. This includes their cousin, music prodigy Sammie Moore (Miles Caton), whose soul is so connected to the sounds of Blackness he’s able to speak to heaven and hell. However, their opening night becomes a fight for survival as a vampire named Remmick (Jack O’Connell) and his crew of undead former KKK members (Lola Kirke, Peter Dreimanis) demand to join the festivities and obtain Sammie’s special gift.
The Koalition staff discuss their thoughts on Sinners and explain why this movie defies the definition of horror to become a vampiric classic. Check out the full review of Sinners in the video above.
To learn more about Sinners, check out our rounds of interviews with Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, and Miles Caton. Jayme Lawson, Jack O’Connell, Delroy Lindo, Omar Miller, and Li Jun Li explain why Sinners was transformative. And Li Jun Li explains the meaning behind the Mississippi Delta Chinese storyline.
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