The introduction to Sinners tells us that various folk traditions (including the Choctaw) hold that some people are born with the ability to make music so true that it pierces the veil between life and death, conjuring spirits from the past and future; whilst it can bring healing, it can also attract evil. For the first half or so of the film, we are left unclear if this is a metaphor about the power of music or to be understood as a supernatural phenomenon.
The first half of this film (aside from an early flashback) could be a straightforward story of the 1930's south - the Smokestack twins return to small-town Mississippi from Chicago with mob money, planning to set up a juke joint, only to run into the twin plagues of company scrip and the KKK. Then, on opening night, the vampires arrive, drawn by the magic of Sammy's music, and we are into horror territory.
The horror part is fun, if tending to lean on a lot of tropes of the genre, and manages some good lighter moments amongst the dark; I didn't think it was especially gory-for-horror (but![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atreic who isn't a horror fan found it a bit much in places). If felt less thematically interesting than what came before, though.
Music is certainly central to Sinners, and I particularly liked how the different strands of music from different backgrounds were woven together; and the juke joint scene that has done the rounds on the internet is indeed a fine moment. I'm not sure the Choctaw elements were quite fully fleshed out, and some of the characters were maybe under-developed, but it's still a very enjoyable story.
The first half of this film (aside from an early flashback) could be a straightforward story of the 1930's south - the Smokestack twins return to small-town Mississippi from Chicago with mob money, planning to set up a juke joint, only to run into the twin plagues of company scrip and the KKK. Then, on opening night, the vampires arrive, drawn by the magic of Sammy's music, and we are into horror territory.
The horror part is fun, if tending to lean on a lot of tropes of the genre, and manages some good lighter moments amongst the dark; I didn't think it was especially gory-for-horror (but
atreic who isn't a horror fan found it a bit much in places). If felt less thematically interesting than what came before, though.Music is certainly central to Sinners, and I particularly liked how the different strands of music from different backgrounds were woven together; and the juke joint scene that has done the rounds on the internet is indeed a fine moment. I'm not sure the Choctaw elements were quite fully fleshed out, and some of the characters were maybe under-developed, but it's still a very enjoyable story.