27 April 2025

Sinners (2025) Review: The Coolest Thing Right Now and an Ode to Music

Ryan Coogler delivers his magnum opus and continues to be one of the most important directors today.

I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a movie, especially after seeing it, already eager to rewatch. I needed to experience the music and captivating storytelling again to catch all of the film’s themes. Who knew a vampire period piece could hold so much substance and affect me in ways very few films have ever done? Thankfully, I'm not the only one who thinks this way: Universal praise, media discussion, and packed theaters, which is important since the movie-going experience is slowly dying. Mirroring the film, communities are tied together by shared experiences through art.

Music has been a major part of my life, and seeing how Coogler represented it in such smart and creative ways has gotten me excited for more non-franchise stories from him. I love how he implemented the old blues legend of selling your soul to the devil in the final end credits, and in the middle of the film, we see Sammie does just that and begins the “Cultural montage”. I still remember hearing the electric guitar hit for the first time in that scene, feeling confused. How is this happening? Thinking, “This doesn’t fit into the context of the scene at all”. How is this possible? Then it continues with the camera panning through the crowd, adding various music/dance spanning generations, all pioneered and pivotal to the history of black Americans. This is when I realized this film was about these communities coming together, enjoying something together, expressing liberation through art, to have something that was theirs, and to feel free in a time where it was impossible. I was in awe, crying, audibly saying “that was insane”.

The mid-credits scene was the killshot, completely unexpected. Already filled with emotion from the final minutes, thinking that it's over. The film delivers another piece to the story that immediately had me sobbing. Sammie, at an old age, in a different time with different people. Still passionate about music. Having a Blues legend, Buddy Guy, playing Sammie, shows that these characters and their stories are so much bigger than the movie. Music is timeless. It holds memories and emotions from the past that can be reincarnated into the present to feel it all over again. Coogler, thank you, you are a genius.