Sinners, directed, written and products by Ryan Coogler – The visionary behind “Black Panther” and “Creed” – takes place at the time of Jim Crow Clarksdale, Mississippi, and tells the story of two gangster twins, Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan. They return home from Chicago d’Al Capone, looking for a new start. The twins recruit their youngest cousin put online musically to perform in their new Juke Joint, where the night takes a supernatural turn when the vampires, three whites, present themselves and start to eat and infect members of the community.
I felt like I hadn’t looked at “sinners”, but I read it. The film flows like a new exhilarating and exalted allegoric, rather than a play of unenatural periods of horror-fusion-assassination (or any other genres concoction that the public interpreted it). “Sinners” is the first film to be shot in the IMAX 70 mm formats and Ultra Panavision 70. The 70mm IMAX creates a large relationship of appearance, which makes the film expansive. Filmmaker Automn Durald Arkapaw Navigate both the picturesque plains of the Mississippi Delta and the intimate juke Juke where most of the film takes place. The actors remain centered in the context, while the world around them is built and evolves in the background, just as we would in a novel.
The work of Ryan Coogler constantly explores the themes of race, love and complex social dynamics, in particular in the context of black culture, and “sinners” certainly correspond to his niche. However, this film marked a daring creative start. With “Black Panther”, Coogler had a certain obligation to end the fans to amaze and wrap with his vision of Wakanda. With “Creed”, he had the duty to box the fanatics and the heritage of the “Rocky” franchise to evoke the emotions of a classic sporting drama. But with “sinners”, Coogler freed himself from all obligations. This film is a pure expression. In doing so, “sinners” recall that art is a dialogue between the creator and creation, and the public is only a witness.
In “Sinners”, the color works as a form of silent narration. As the night evolves, the blue shade of the Mississippi delta is gradually becoming red. The battery and smoke also exist as characters unlike characters: the battery is considered red, and smoke as blue. Blue evokes rooting: tradition, line, community. Disturbing red signals. The Lover of Stack White Passage, Mary, portrayed by Hailee SteinfeldSeen in pink, is the first in their community to be turned. Its infection marks the start of the film’s descent, and its proximity to whiteness, aesthetically and metaphorically, is not incidental – Coogler apparently comments on the way colonialism makes communities turn against each other.
Sammie, the youngest cousin of twins, played by Miles Caton, exists in a limited space, not affiliated and generally carries brown. Warned that his music “Dance with the Devil”, he still plays, choosing to continue him despite his father. Annie, the partner of Smoke, played by Wunmi Mosaku, becomes the cultural anchor of the film because she is the first to identify vampires and confronts them with maricked garlic juice, wooden issues and ritual instinct. Vampires are not only supernatural, they are allegorical: help for infiltration and subtle violence of colonialism. They do not storm – they must be invited.
“Sinners” is coogusing that comes out of the box. It tells a multidimensional story, giving an allegory for colonialism while creating an immersive story that folds the genre at the surface. There is power to be created without apologies. The “sinners” do not seek approval, and that’s exactly why it works.