a huge crowd dancing under the moon outside a creaking old barn, folk music rising like smoke into the Southern night air, that feels like time has stopped. Or maybe cracked open.
Ryan Coogler’s latest film is a vampire story, a folk horror, a quasi-musical, a Southern Gothic, a Western, a Blaxploitation thriller and somehow it nails all of it.
Set in 1930s America, Sinners follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan, delivering two wildly distinct and yet impressive performances) as they return to their hometown, hoping to leave behind their troubled pasts. But what greets them is far older, darker, and hungrier than either of them could’ve imagined.
The first half of the film introduces you into a different genre entirely. It plays like a dusty Western tangled up in neo-liberal politics and the grit of Blaxploitation cinema. And just as you start to settle into its world, the horror slithers in. Coogler never leans too hard into the supernatural; instead, it creeps along the edges. Which works amazingly. It is deeply intertwined with the use of music, which was an interesting choice and somehow draws you in much more than you’d expect.
Visually, the film is stunning. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw keeps the camera moving, drifting from one room to another, catching whispers, side glances, shadows in corners. That quiet momentum creates a tension you can feel building in your chest.
But the real heart of the film clearly is its Music. Ludwig Göransson’s score is astonishing. Blues and folk traditions are embedded into the film’s emotional and narrative core. Songs feel like spells, like old prayers echoing through generations. It’s the music that gives the film its soul, its sorrow, and ultimately, its power.
Michael B. Jordan is sensational. Grounded and deeply charismatic (as always) in both roles. But the standout, for me, is Wunmi Mosaku. Her performance is full of quiet strength and heartbreaking vulnerability. She carries entire histories in a single glance. She works a lot with silence which makes her performance so much more impressive.
Coogler’s vision tells real and fictional Black histories with deep care and bold imagination. There’s no excess, no wasted frame. only a filmmaker fully in control of his craft, unafraid to mix genres, to blend history and myth, to let music lead the way.
If you say you want original films go and see it.
If you say you miss big budget movies that move you—this is it.
Sinners is Coogler’s best film to date. It’s also so far one of the best films of the year.
Overall rating
4 1/2 Stars – the cast, the cinematography and the music will stay with me for a good while.
★ ★ ★ ★
Curious? Check out the trailer! Out on April 18th everywhere!