Original Sin

Now that Spooky Season has started in earnest, we got to see the latest fine Ryan Coogler horror: Sinners (2025).

Set in 1920s Clarksdale Mississippi, it starts with a young man Miles Caton entering a small church to see his father, the preacher. He's bloodied and carries a busted guitar. His father tells him this is the result of sin and asks him if he's ready to renounce his evil ways. Cut to one day earlier.

The twins, Smoke and Stack, both played by Michael B. Jordan, are standing by a rundown structure looking badass. They just got back from Chicago, with a bunch of money. A white man shows up to sell them the place. They plan to turn it into juke joint - opening that night. They go meet up with Caton, their cousin. He plays blues on a resonator guitar they gave him and they want him to play the joint that night. He also goes along to help them set up. 

One twin goes to town to the Chinese grocery for supplies. He already has a truckload of bootleg booze but they'll need some catfish. When some no-accounts try to lift some of the booze, he shoots them in the street. That establishes his badassery. He also recruits his (ex-?) wife Wunmi Mosaku, a hoodoo woman, as cook. The other twin and Caton go looking for harp player Del Roy Lindo as another entertainer. 

Around this time, a badly burnt man, Jack O'Connell, comes to a white couple's door, begging them to let him in and hide him from the Choctaw who are chasing him. Which they think is strange, because there are no Choctaw in Mississippi. They do hide him, the Choctaw show up and leave, and as the sun goes down, he turns out to be a vampire, who turns the couple. 

At the juke joint, things are hopping. Caton does a blues number which opens the portals of time and space, and the joint becomes crowded with African griots and dancers, hip-hop dancers and MCs, and maybe some spacemen. There are more musical numbrs (none surreal like this), and a lot of fun, with sexy times for many, including Caton.

But then O'Connell and his two friends show up at the door, asking to be invited in. They just want to hear some music, have a drink, you know, good times. The black folk inside tell them to move along, but they say they sing and play too - doing a pretty version of Pick Poor Robin Clean. They still won't get invited in. Mosaku figures out that they are "haints", in fact, they are vampires.

Now the battle of the white vampires (soon to become integrated with the newly turned) vs. jukers. The vampires love Irish music, and perform a lively dance number - this movie is about the power of music. 

And it ends with Caton, now an old man (played by Buddy Guy!) meeting some vampires, still young. SPOILER, I guess. It looks like he did not renounce the life of sin, but he also stayed mortal.

It's funny that so much of this movie takes place outside the vampire story. It's more about black life in old Clarksdale, home of the blues. The casual and serious racism, the bonds of friendships and family, the cotton, the music. The music is great, but I have one nit to pick: Some of the blues sounded a bit modern, especially Alvin Youngblood Hart's Travellin', which was sort of the theme. It had a sophisticated structure where I like a simpler, 12-bar Delta style. But the musicians, who included Cedric Burnside and Buddy Guy, are great. Caton does his own singing, and he's pretty great too.

Another nit I could pick is that the movie had problems sticking to a style and theme. The historical race drama, the surreal musical, the vampire horror, the power of music, all mixed up. But I won't complain about that. It was a bit of a mix, but a skillful one. No matter what the tone was, it always looked great.