I don’t know why but watching ‘Sinners’ kept reminding me about ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’.
Maybe that’s because of the similarities in the premise and the subject, or maybe memories from that movie never left me like a vampiric mark on my neck.
However, to say that ‘Sinners’ is a vampire survival horror dismisses so much of what the film is about. Under the vampiric visage, it is also about racism, survival, what constitute real freedom, grief and so much more.
The film told you right off the bat what it is about. It sets the stage so well that you built anticipation as you, as an audience member, know what is coming for all the characters showing up on the screen, while they thought they are going to just simply set up a joint to celebrate life within their confines.
The film is full of broken characters – grieving parents, ex-cons trying to establish a new life in their old home, a musician who felt out of place and lack of opportunities, someone who can’t find a place in either side of the society and the list go on. However, what made ‘Sinners’ so watchable is that they all tried to do their best to live and survive, and they don’t spend their days moaning their misfortune. Are they angry? Yes, they are. But they also know that they have to take whatever they have access to for moving ahead – that kind of survival instinct added a huge multi-dimensional layer to all the characters. And that’s why I really got mesmerised by what I saw.
Michael B Jordan played the dual role of the twins Smoke and Stack, which was a joy to watch. The completely different mannerism, characterisation and turn of speech delivered by the same face and the same body inevitably put him into the spotlight. The great thing about this performance is that you don’t need to second guess whether this is Smoke or Stack even when they are in the ‘same scene’, as you can tell them apart immediately. Without a doubt, it was a strong performance delivered by Michael B Jordan. There was a period I was afraid that he might get type cast, but this performance instinct triggered by the brilliant writing of Ryan Coogler proved that Michael B Jordan is so much more as an actor.
Other cast members such as Hailee Steinfield, Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo all delivered solid performances, creating a very believable world for this supernatural story. I personally was surprised to see a Chinese family in the movie, but I don’t really know American history, especially immigrant history, well enough to comment on that. I just trust Ryan Coogler to have done his research already. After all it is Ryan Coogler, he is about authenticity to cultures.
‘Sinners’ has a great soundtrack attached to it. Afterall, music is an extremely important element in this story as explained by the opening narration. So, it will be disappointing if the soundtrack is lacklustre.
However, what ‘Sinners’ got me was not just the performance, soundtrack and all the other production values, but the question about freedom – what is real freedom? The main characters are living in a community that was constantly under the threat of the Klans. They have to watch out for each other, sometimes in drastic ways like abandoning the people they love. They looked to God for liberation and they looked to music to express their freedom and desire to live freely. So, when a proposal of eternal life to allow them to live truly freely, that was tempting. However, when vampires live in a hive mind and the head of the coven is an Irishman, is that true freedom from the oppression they are living in? Also, is a life that you cannot see the sun anymore but have to live in shadows true freedom? Or the ability to live out your life as a human being the ultimate freedom for them?
These are complicated questions that kept coming up in my head long after I finished the movie. Not all the action scenes or music scenes, but all the questions that were asked and all the debates they had about freedom and life. And, in the end, who determine what is freedom.
And I guess this is still a valid question in this day and age.
Probably that’s why ‘Sinner’ still resonates inside me long after the credits rolled.
