The Pissed Take - Sinners

SINNERS —or— JEFF MYTLEBANK AT THE CROSSROADS, FROM DUSK TIL DAWN AKA It’s a bloody good time on the killin’ floor.

Release Date 18Apr2025

I really liked this one, rough edges and all.

SINNERS, released in the past week, is an original work from writer/director/producer RYAN COOGLER. It’s the kind of movie we really need to be seeing more of in theaters. On the surface, it’s a mix of period crime drama, Southern Gothic thriller, and horror movie. Even hearing the initial audience and critical acclaim the movie has already earned, I still went in empty of expectation—considering the ease with which some heap praise on anything that deviates from the usual pre-masticated, algorithmic shart that’s produced these days.

I finished this one pleasantly surprised, energized, yet confounded by certain choices.

NO MF’N SPOILERS

It’s 1932 in Jim Crow Clarksdale, MS (not MI). Twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, have returned home from Chicago after working for Al Capone. They’ve come home to work for themselves by gathering local talent (including their young cousin) and planning to start up a juke joint. However, that time and place was full of dodgy f#ckers, and one in particular is attracted to their nascent enterprise to bring... the f#ckery.

This movie’s inspirations are worn on its sleeve, though it never stops it from being its own thing. There is a rough-hewn quality to it that really serves to hit home what the movie is trying to say. This is a very good thing, as it makes very clear what it is trying to accomplish. I stress that while it’s saying things—it is NOT a message movie.

The core of this movie is MUSIC AS MAGIC. Good and evil, life and death, attraction and repulsion—Music. Magic.

When it adheres to this core idea, the movie glows. When it doesn’t, the tonal and narrative changes are a little jarring. It’s got plenty of great ideas and presents them through a cultural lens that is at once specific yet easily identifiable by shared experiences. Black stories are human stories.

Then there’s the music. Damn... The music is the MF’n show here! There are a couple of numbers that had me looking for a remote—damn you to Gehenna, streamers!

THE GOOD:

Most of it. MICHAEL B. JORDAN as the twin brothers is a rock-solid leading man in this picture, his long-standing collab with the director shining through. Everyone else on screen is fully committed and sells the story. THE MUSIC, by composer LUDWIG GÖRANSSON (most, but not all), is the glue that binds the story together. MICHAEL FONTAINE and his makeup FX team kill it with selling the horror elements but not taking us out of the setting. Special shout-out to WUNMI MOSAKU for really bringing it.

THE BAD:

There are a few moments that threatened to break the immersion the film built up. A couple of narrative and editing decisions left me confused or didn’t pay off something interesting. Occasionally, things happen that never go any further than them happening. I suspect there is a more complete version of this movie out there that was chopped to increase the number of showings per screen.

SEE IT!

YES! This is a movie made for the big screen. If you’re lucky enough to see this at one of the 10 screens worldwide that can screen 70mm, you are in for a treat. This film has aspect ratio changes that shift with specific story beats.

DON’T SEE IT!

If you’re really just waiting for a live-action Geico lizard movie, think boiled bread is good eatin’, and are one of those slow ponies who think that this movie is “anti-white.” Nihil nequius est te, MF!