Sinners is an exhilarating, bloody, and mesmerizing masterpiece from the mind of Black Panther director Ryan Coogler. In a dynamic performance, Michael B. Jordan stars as twins Stack and Smoke trying to make a living in the South during the 1930s. The twin brothers travel from Chicago to Mississippi after learning firsthand that the North wasn’t all it cracked up to be. The twins decide it’s better to face the racism and prejudice they were born into rather than a propagandized facade of liberation.
However, things take a hard turn when the two unknowingly buy a club from an undercover KKK leader and discover that grotesque racism isn’t the only thing to fear in the South.
Spoilers below!
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The movie does an excellent job of honoring the ancestors and acknowledging their pain and suffering. It touches on how Black people sing to deal with despair, how society appreciates our music but does not recognize us, and the importance of believing in your dream despite the odds being stacked against you. There’s an otherworldly scene where Jordan and the cast dance to blues in the club, a transcendant nod to the ancestral perspective that Black people are all connected through music, regardless of the genres we created separately.
We adored how Smoke was so beautifully in love with Annie, a dark-skinned, plus-size woman played by the incredible Wunmi Mosaku. The two have infinite love for each other, but after miscarrying their child, the relationship isn’t able to survive. It’s so important to see this dynamic on film: it’s a mature relationship that’s refreshing, blameless, and filled with empathy.
We also loved how the film stays true to the importance of community by spotlighting Black and Asian people working together to survive the heavy oppression of the South. Sinners heavily reinforces the importance of perseverance in fighting against intimidation, dying, and trying, even when it hurts the most.
It’s a gut-wrenching, emotional, and heartwarming movie that delivers strong acting from every performer, along with gorgeous cinematography, and deeply rooted storytelling intertwined with thrills. And did we mention all the actors are insanely hot?
Queer horror fans unite! We’re eating good with Sinners, and it’ll be hard to shut us up about it.
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