More Than Just a Movie

I was sold on the film the moment I saw the trailer and heard Michael B. Jordan say, “Naw, we cousins.”

Set in the Jim Crow South, Sinners tells the story of a juke joint (think club in Prohibition-era America) founded by the Smoke-Stack twins. The twins—both played by Michael B. Jordan—have returned home from Chicago after years working in organized crime. They are also veterans of the Great War. Now they’re back, looking to build something of their own: a place for their people.

Their reputation precedes them, and their skills have been honed both in the Windy City and on the Western Front. The twins are shrewd, pragmatic, and cunning. Working together in a harmony that cannot be taught—only inborn—they gather friends and family to open the juke.

What Jordan accomplishes is remarkable: he makes the two men feel completely distinct despite their shared background. Smoke is serious and focused on the business and the money. Stack is more concerned with the people. Both want to succeed, but they pursue that success in different ways. When the two characters share the screen, it’s nothing short of mesmerizing. It’s some of the best acting Jordan has ever done.

The twins recruit friends and relatives to help run the juke. Sammy, played by Miles Caton, is their younger cousin—a gifted blues musician who looks up to his older relatives. Sammie is at odds with his preacher father, who wants him to renounce his passion for the blues. Caton reportedly taught himself guitar, and honestly, I’m not sure I believe it. His playing and singing are so effortless you could believe he was pulled straight out of a juke joint 100 years ago.

The rest of the cast is fantastic. Wunmi Mosaku and Hailee Steinfeld play Smoke and Stack’s love interests, respectively. Each woman is excellent in her own right. They are far more than just “the lovers.” Both share strong chemistry with their partners and bring real depth to the screen.

I do have to single out one more person in the cast. Delroy Lindo is nothing less than enchanting as a drunken musician named Delta Slim, offering wisdom and historical context in nearly every scene he appears in. Social media has taken time to praise him, but Lindo is always excellent, and Sinners is no exception. I won’t go into detail about Jack O’Connell’s role, but he is terrific as well.

Ludwig Göransson has never been better. The score is steeped in blues and Black musical traditions across the diaspora, giving weight, roots, and breathing room to a movie that could easily have been far less than what it became. Göransson has been a favorite composer of mine for years, and he is at his absolute best here.

If this review feels a little thin, it’s because I’m avoiding spoilers like the plague. This is a movie that needs to be experienced to fully understand its impact. It transcends film and becomes cinema—a perfect blend of sight, sound, music, acting, and writing.

Sinners is the best movie I’ve seen in theaters in a long time—an instant classic, a cultural landmark, and worthy of the indelible mark it leaves on film.

God damn did I love this movie.