Horror/thriller blockbuster Sinners (2025) can be described as Ryan Coogler’s magnum opus — skyrocketing to the top of movie charts, it has quickly become the seventh highest-grossing film of 2025 and the ninth highest-grossing horror film of all time. An experimental and bold original story, the film is set in 1930s rural Mississippi and stars a pair of braggadocious twins known by their aliases “Smoke” and “Stack,” both played by Michael B. Jordan. After purchasing acres of land from a Ku Klux Klan member, the twins briefly fulfill their years-long dream of opening their very own juke joint. However, what begins as a southern historical drama quickly takes a turn towards the supernatural when centuries-old vampire Remmick, portrayed by Jack O’Connell, begins killing unsuspecting characters one by one, resurrecting them as grotesque, grinning monsters.
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The decade in which Sinners takes place is of great significance to African American history. Despite Jim Crow and sharecropping laws, African Americans spurred movements like the Harlem Renaissance — an era of deep cultural importance marked by artistic innovations in music, literature and visual arts, stimulated by Black ingenuity. Harlem was the heart of this cultural awakening, but many of the contributions of the time were shaped by southern influence. The movement coincided with the Great Migration — a decades-long exodus that saw millions of African Americans fleeing the South in favour of Northern, Western and Midwestern states for greater freedom and opportunity. This influx led to a convergence of Northern and Southern influences. Two of the Harlem Renaissance’s most notable artists, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, were born in Alabama and Missouri, respectively.
This cultural and historical context allows the audience to understand each character’s motivations much more keenly. The twins yearn to become business owners, opening their juke joint as a testament to the music and community that brought them back to the South in the first place. Sammie, the twins’ younger cousin, played by Miles Caton, dreams of a city where he has the freedom to play the blues, miles away from the threat of the supernatural but also from a life marked by hyper-religiosity and the malignancy of Jim Crow.
At the film’s core is its connection to music, not only through renowned composer Ludwig Goransson’s rousing score, but through the character Sammie’s deep talent and appreciation for the blues. Originating in the South in the early 1900s, the blues became an outlet for African American artists to express themselves through folk music. An integral genre to music as we know it today, the blues naturally influenced and shaped a myriad of genres that succeeded it, including jazz, R&B, rock, and country.
Coogler demonstrates his intimate understanding of this influence with one showstopping montage in particular, portraying the reincarnation of Black music over time in a spectacular display of song and dance.
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In the juke joint, Smoke and Stack watch from afar as Sammie picks up his guitar and begins to sing to the onlooking crowd, when suddenly, the scene shifts. There is a callback to the beginning of the film when Wunmi Mosaku’s character Annie narrates, “There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true it can pierce the veil between life and death… this gift can bring healing, but it can also attract demons.” Her words are brought to life as the revellers onscreen begin to slow down as if encased within the very fabric of time. The camera pans around the room as spirits, including African drummers and Peking Opera performers, mingle and dance amongst the living. Spirits from the future are also roused as the music morphs and Sammie’s vocals are layered amongst drums, the banjo, rap ad libs, a West Coast whistle, the piano, and more. The convergence of African drumming and the banjo/blues sound of the 1930s alongside modern dancing and hip-hop beats tells the story of the rebirth of Black music, as one genre bends and gives way to the next over and over again, spanning across decades.
Musical traditions and sounds that originated in Africa were carried across continents during the Transatlantic Slave Trade and passed down from generation to generation, creating a legacy of Black music that became the bedrock of much of what we listen to today.
With grounded, layered performances and a deliciously inventive score, Sinners is a visual and sonic masterpiece. Coogler’s original story, complete with romance, humour and horror, is effectively a love letter to Black music across time and the diaspora.
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Featured Image Source: Catherine Lanctot
