Sinners' Music

 

 

If one needed even more reasons to love Ryan Coogler’s masterful Sinners, look to the use of music in the film’s complex narrative.

This movie’s musical integration moves seamlessly from church to field to cathouse to juke joint, from dusty trails to highways to ocean waters, from the Delta to Dublin. It traces many of the strands of American cultural and political evolution – including enslavement and integration.

Just as this story of the vampiric undead set in the Jim Crow South rides on history and testament, folk tradition and myth, faith and magic, the film’s music is infused with these threads.

Just as the images provoke deep reflection about Coogler’s intended messages, these songs and performances will undoubtedly lead invested audiences to see how much music contains America’s worldview – how we view ourselves, one another and the world.

As is true about music in other contexts, Coogler’s selection of voices – and most importantly that of Miles Caton as the bluesy young reprobate Sammie / Preacher Boy – will lead many to think about its power to ignite passion (and other things) and to liberate.