Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ is a masterful and soulful dance with the devil

By 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, a distinct type of blues music was taking off, called the Delta blues. This music was soulful and raw, with intimate lyrics sung in a flood of emotions reminiscent of the real and occasional floods brought on by the natural landscape. The simultaneously sexy and sad sounds of the guitar and harmonica were sometimes performed in illicit places like juke joints and other gatherings with alcohol as a way for locals to gather, let loose and find moments of joy and relief from the harsh realities of living under Jim Crow.

Prohibition would be repealed a year later. Sharecropping, especially cotton picking, would mostly come to an end three decades later. Mississippi was the shiny buckle in the Bible Belt. Meanwhile, Robert Johnson, the up and coming “King of Blues,” was rumored to have made a deal with the devil at a crossroads for his legendary talent. This history and lore is the backdrop for writer-director Ryan Coogler’s (“Black Panther” and “Creed”) new, original genre-bending horror film “Sinners.”

A scene from Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” starring Michael B. Jordan PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

“Sinners” stars Michael B. Jordan (“Black Panther” and “Creed”) in a precise and well-acted dual role as the identical Smokestack Twins (one twin is nicknamed Smoke, the other Stack). The film takes place over a single day in October 1932 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the birthplace of blues. The Smokestack twins return to their hometown in the Delta after working with Al Capone in Chicago to open a legendary juke joint that same day. Using money, muscle and manipulation, they create a successful opening. The music from the joint attracts the attention of an eerie, blood thirsty stranger, Remmick (Jack O’Connell) and two former Klan members, who want the twin’s cousin Sammie and his talent in exchange for the other patrons’ safety. By sun up the Smokestack party becomes the stuff legends are made of. 

Sammie, played wonderfully by newcomer Miles Caton, is a young blues musician with a strict preacher for a father and a preternatural gift for making transcendental music that unites ages, races, the living and the undead. His musical ability makes him a conduit between earth and the spiritual world, which is something Sammie’s father seems well aware of. Sammie’s father tells him to ditch the guitar with a dire warning: “You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.” Papa sure did preach.

Sammie’s musical gift is beautifully depicted in a masterful experimental scene in the juke joint that reveals the lineage of the Delta blues — it’s past, present and future influence. As Sammie plays his guitar and sings from the depths of his soul, the song turns into a remix that incorporates Afrofuturist rock and roll (think George Clinton with Parliament Funkadelic), hip-hop, DJs turning vinyl, twerking and West African drumming. By the end of this fantastical sequence, the roof is metaphorically and literally on fire.

Miles Caton as Sammie in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” PHOTO: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The music is woven so intricately into this film that one could make the argument that it is one of the characters. The score by Ludwig Göransson captures the richness of the blues, featuring it throughout most of the movie, including shots along oddly peaceful and haunting drives along Clarksdale’s cotton fields and dirt roads. As new characters are introduced and the film’s tone shifts, foreboding cinematic music, Irish folk songs and violins with crescendo all make an appearance at exactly the right time.

The vampires’ symbolism is multi-layered. At times it is difficult to discern who the ultimate villains are. Is it the Klan and their violent structures of white supremacy and legacy of inflicting horror on Black Americans? Or is it Remmick and his cult of insatiable night walkers who offer community and the illusion of freedom and immortality but at a great cost? The answer may be surprising. How one interprets the vampires’ meaning is akin to a Rorschach test and that’s part of the fun.

The film asks audiences to reflect on the blessing and curse of a divine gift such as Sammie’s. Does a person continue to let their light shine knowing all the good and bad it can attract? How does one nurture their talent and share it with the world while protecting themselves? One must build the discernment to know who and what energy to welcome into the threshold of their lives.

“Sinners” stays with you long after the credits roll. And you’ll want to stay for the credits.