Sinners strikes a chord

Both genre-bending and soul-baring, film proves that originality still has a pulse - and it sings

- Kibo Ngowi

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind, and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but if you are tempted, he will provide a way of escape so that you can endure.” — 1 Corinthians 10:13

There’s one important fact about Sinners, the fifth film directed by Ryan Coogler, that’s crucial to understanding it but isn’t clear from its marketing and promotion. Sinners is not a vampire movie; it’s a musical that has vampires in it.

This distinction is important because music is what the film is really about. Vampires are just one of the tools Coogler uses to make his point.

It’s not hard to understand why Coogler and Warner Bros Pictures might have been hesitant to make that clear upfront. Because when people hear the word “musical” they typically don’t picture a period piece set in 1930s Mississippi that doesn’t shy away from the horrors of being black in America’s deep south during the Jim Crow era.

This is less like La La Land and more like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. I totally recognise the argument that if the imperative is to get butts on seats, the chances of success are higher if you can make people think they're going to get an action-horror film and not a dramatic musical.

But, because I walked into the theatre expecting to see