Ryan Coogler is a director that has not gotten the credit he deserves. He was praised for his excellent debut Fruitvale Station but since his delving into franchise filmmaking with Creed and the two Black Panther films, his prowess as a director has been overlooked. Those films are all still well directed and definitely contain some of Coogler’s own personal flair. Creed, in particular, is a wonderful film and is arguably one of the most pure examples of franchise filmmaking done right in the past decade. As good as his main man Michael B. Jordan is in that film, the all round craft of that film is outstanding. After dipping his toe in the very lucrative franchise filmmaking pool, Coogler has come back to make the film he has always wanted to make. Sinners takes all of his signature themes like identity and faith, but this time sprinkles some excellent horror and folklore in the mix. The result is undoubtedly the best film of the year so far, the best of Coogler’s career and even up there with the best of the decade.

Sinners follows identicals twins Smoke and Stack, both of which are played by Michael B. Jordan. They are referred to as gangsters by those around them and have a clear reputation around the Mississippi Delta area. After using some stolen money to buy a sawmill, they go around with their ‘preacher boy’ little cousin, Sammie (Miles Caton), to spread the word about their new Juke Joint. Along the way, they run into Smoke’s estranged wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), Stack’s ex-girlfriend Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) and some other characters from the town. Many people come to the Juke Joint, which promises to be full of music, drink and all around good times. However in the background, something sinister is brewing and trying to worm its way into the joint to ruin everybody’s night, and take their lives along with it.

It is incredibly difficult to give a synopsis, especially because the real meat of the plot only happens in the second half of the film. The marketing for this is mostly just surrounding everything that transpires at the Juke Joint, but there is a lot of setup beforehand. This setup is absolutely vital to why this film is so excellent though and that is mainly to do with how it approaches its character writing. Effort is made to build each character with their own personal backgrounds, stakes and motivations so that when ball really starts rolling later at the joint, you care about each and every individual the film focuses on. Even some of the characters that have the smallest amount of screentime still get their moments in the spotlight and it is all payoff for them being built up beforehand. Delroy Lindo’s character, Delta Slim, is a great example because when we first see him, he is driving a hard bargain to the brothers to perform at the joint because he is a regular performer elsewhere. He has loyalty to that place that employs him because it will always be there for him, and will continue long after him. He is eventually worn down but that loyalty and loveable nature comes out at the joint. Slim ends up showing his loyalty constantly during the coming conflict and he also acts as a great comic relief to break up the maliciousness of the situation. You get all of this just from a small side character and this quality is consistent through all main and side characters. You could spend ages deconstructing and talking about them all but it is best to discover them all yourself.

Music is one of the most important throughlines in this film. In the opening of the film, we are told about some people’s music having the transcendence to connect the spirits of the past, present and future. One scene, that everybody is talking about, showcases this in the most astonishing manner and you will certainly know it when you see it. It is hard to argue that this scene is an all timer and will probably be studied for how incredibly composed it is. Even outside of this scene though, this opening reflects much of the film. Much of the freedom and camaraderie shown here comes from the music in the joint. People are laughing and having the times of their lives and considering the vast majority of these people are African Americans living in Jim Crow Law rife America, that is a beautiful sentiment. Sammie’s whole character is to do with his passion for being a musician but people not having the confidence in him to make it. But this film encourages him and the audience to hold onto that passion dearly and try to make something out of it. That is something that everybody needs to hear and the message is delivered wonderfully.

It helps that amongst all these brilliant writing aspects, everything technically is top of the ranger too. In that one scene I mentioned, the cinematography is one of the reasons that scene feels so transportive and that quality is consistent throughout the film. Ludwig Göransson’s scoring is fantastic, as ever. Particularly brilliant is when the film starts to kick into gear with its horror and action, the score has a noticeable shift too. All the tension from the plot at that point is elevated by Göransson’s accompaniment and it really has you leaning forward in your seat. Similarly, the edit is immaculate for its job keeping you engaged. Sitting pretty at 138 minutes, this is a decently lengthy film that absolutely flies by. The pace varies with the start being rather slow, but never sluggish, and the later plot being fast, but yet never clumsily breakneck speed. All the performances are brilliant too with Michael B. Jordan and Hailee Steinfeld giving arguably the best performances of their careers so far and Miles Caton’s first appearance on screen is certainly a memorable one.

Sinners is just an immaculate film in every regard. It oozes style, confidence and pure passion for the craft. Coogler will get his flowers for this film and deservedly so. He, as well as everybody involved, is on top of his game and a film this special does not come about very often. I am envious of those that have seen this in Imax as this should be seen on the biggest screen possible. I emplore everybody to see this in cinemas as this is the kind of film cinemas are made for.