‘Sinners’ is a must-see on the big screen

It’s two Michael B Jordans for the price of one as ‘Sinners’ (2025) takes the box office by storm.

Once again joining forces with director Ryan Coogler, Jordan caps the cinematic duo’s ‘Fruitvale Station’, ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Creed’ as he stars in this ambitious and original vampire story set in the Mississippi Delta during the early 1930s.

Harnessing the soul-stirring beauty of the blues and the supernatural mood of the American south, ‘Sinners’ introduces the notorious Smokestack twins (Jordan) who return to Mississippi from Chicago with a rumoured connection to Al Capone, some ill-gotten cash and a dream of opening a juke joint for the local black community.

Things go amiss with the arrival of the Irish vampire Remmick who is looking to build a community of his own. Starring stellar newcomer Miles Caton as the twins’ musical cousin Sammie ‘Preacher Boy’ Moore, ‘Sinners’ moves and shakes with the sound of the black American south interspersed with traditional Irish music.

Like Jordan, as well as the excellent ensemble of Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li and Jack O’Connell, music is one of ‘Sinner’s’ stars.

Featuring a score by Ludwig Göransson and an opening that speaks of music that can “pierce the veil between life and death, past and future”, the film is a sonic experience that reaches its crescendo in a spiritual, time-traipsing scene that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

A heady mix of history, hoodoo and horror, ‘Sinners’’ layers and intriguing threads are a feast for the cinephile.

Delving into the blues mythology that has Sammie’s pastor father wary of his son’s immense musical talent, Annie’s hoodoo practices that keep the twins safe, the cruel realities of racism, the Jim Crow laws and the ostensibly disbanded Ku Klux Clan, ‘Sinners’ employs some classic vampire tropes but has a socially conscious core.

Though ‘Sinners’ is set in the 1930s, it’s easy to see the film’s modern-day parallels, including the mutual experiences of diverse immigrant, oppressed and persecuted peoples, the vampiric exploitation of black American culture, especially music, as well as the infiltration of safe black spaces with a view to own them or burn them to the ground.

Beautifully directed by Coogler, bolstered by the consummate cinematography of Autumn Durald Arkapaw as well as a homage to the vampire and horror films that came before, ‘Sinners’ gives us a complex, morally ambiguous tale that ruminates on ideas of freedom, fellowship, generational trauma, assimilation and appropriation in a highly watchable and musical film set to be a genre classic.

Taking place within one day, yes, from dusk till dawn, ‘Sinners’ makes a bold case for the big screen, the continued collaboration between Coogler and Jordan and also for the production of original films in a movie industry high on its supply of rehashed intellectual property.

– martha@namibian.com.na ; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com