Sinners (2025) Music for the soul. From Dusk till Dawn
“You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home”
“There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true, it can pierce the veil between life and death. Conjuring spirits from the past and the future. In ancient Ireland, they were called Filí. In Choctaw land, they call them firekeepers. And in West Africa, they’re called griots. This gift can bring healing to their communities, but it also attracts evil”
The date is October 16th 1932 and on the outskirts of Clarksdale, Mississippi a bloodied, bruised and exhausted young man limps toward the entrance to a local family church, holding the neck of a guitar in his bloodied hands…
So begins Sinners and the fifth film from American born filmmaker Ryan Coogler following his debut feature Fruitvale Station in 2013, Creed two years later and two forays into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Black Panther between 2018 and 2022.
“One day earlier” so begins our tale and a single sunshine filled day, replete with both a sunrise and a sunset as well as the fullest and brightest of moon’s, and a day of achievement and the fulfillment of dreams for two World War I army veterans returning from their time running with Al Capone and his Chicago mob with enough money to buy an old sawmill, convert it into a “Juke Joint”, provide music for the soul, and a home for the blues. These veterans go by many names: “The Twins”, “The Smoke Stack Twins” and individually Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore and to mix fact with fiction, both roles brilliantly played by Michael B Jordan in his fifth collaboration with director Ryan Coogler. In line with all of my film reviews there will be an absence of spoilers here and this is particularly key with Sinners as this film takes a sharp turn around 40 minutes in and gloriously, never looks back. I dare say any trailers for the film have already spoiled whatever it is I’m keen remains unsaid here and so steer clear of trailers or spoiler heavy reviews and take a trip back in time (and perhaps even the future) and this film may well reward you as pleasingly as it did me.
All I’ll add by way of further scene setting is a marvellous performance from Delroy Lindo as “Delta Slim”, a legendary musician travelling the Mississippi Delta, Hailee Steinfeld turns in a feisty performance that lights up the screen as Stack’s ex-girlfriend “Mary” as well as heading up a triumvirate of superb female lead roles with Jayme Lawson oozing sexual energy as singer “Pearline” and Wunmi Mosaku as Smoke’s estranged partner “Annie” and whilst Jack O’Connell’s role (frightening that it is) will remain spoiler free, the final on screen plaudits reside with Miles Caton whose wide-eyed innocence and determination brings “Preacher Boy” or “Sammie Moore” to life brilliantly. It is to Preacher Boy we turn in conclusion as we also go behind the scenes to the creators of this fantastic film and whilst Ryan Coogler will receive due credit for yet another directorial star turn, he is once again indebted to his regular music collaborator Ludwig Göransson for his blues inspired soundtrack and a host of individual songs such as “Travelin” and “I Lied to You” (Miles Caton/Preacher Boy), “Pick Poor Robin Clean” and “Wild Mountain Thyme” (Jack O’Connell) and “Pale, Pale Moon” (Jayme Lawson/Pearline) as this wonderful film takes a turn for the macabre in its final Act.
Deliberately spoiler free, but I can’t but help draw the obvious comparison to From Dusk Till Dawn by Robert Rodriguez from 1996 and therein lies a sliver of Sinners — a film shining a bright light on the ugly spectre of racism whilst trying to counter balance this with hope and prosperity, individualism and love for one’s family and the wider community around you. A film of so many parts (voodoo/black magic) and the breaking of so many cinematic thoughts and traditions, Sinners is a day in the life of the present and fifty years down a dusty road into the future and of course, it’s the story of the blues, medicine for human souls.
One of my favourite films of 2025 so far.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my trilogy of recently self-published books. Beautiful covers eh! As the title(s) would suggest, this is my life at the movies or at least from 1980 to 2024, and in volume 1 you’ll find 80 spoiler free appraisals of movies from debut filmmakers, 91 of the very best films appraised with love and absent of spoilers from 1990–2024 in volume 2, and in volume 3 you’ll find career “specials” on Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino together with the very best of the rest and another 87 spoiler free film reviews from 2001–2024.
All available in hardback and paperback and here are some handy links:
"A Life at the Movies Vol.1" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.2" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.3" - link to Amazon