Should You See Sinners?

Yes. Absofreakinglutely.

Ryan Coogler was already on my list of favorite directors when news leaked that he and Michael B. Jordan were again teaming on another film. Coogler had already shown his skillsets via films like Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther, which I called one of the best history films of the decade in a piece I wrote for Smithsonian Magazine.¹ So I was immediately interested. And then news started to leak. Jordan would play twins…in a movie set in the Jim Crow South…featuring vampires.

What the fu—?

But I knew enough about Coogler and Jordan to be patient and trust their vision and collaborative efforts. And perhaps like so many vampires, I tried to stay in the dark about this film. I wanted to know as little as possible.

Much has been said about the declining performance of movie theaters as online at home streaming became more and more available and expected. But I still believe in the power and majesty—the romance—of the movie theater. I want to sit in a room and experience a story with a bunch of strangers and laugh when they laugh and jump when they jump. And I know it’s overpriced, but I want my popcorn and Coca-Cola.² Certain films demand this experience. Seeing them at home on your tv is ok, but you simply miss out on the experience that the movie was designed for. Sinners is one of those films. It is beautifully shot by Coogler and the score, which pulls on African and Celtic traditions, is both haunting and life affirming. So if you’ve been on the fence about going to see this at the theater or waiting to see it at home, let me tell you this: get yourself to the movies. Let me tell you another thing:

Sinners may be the best film made this century.

No, I’m not kidding. If you’re reading this substack there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve got an appreciation for both movies and history, which you share with me. Ryan Coogler does too. And how the man and this cast take stories of African and Celtic and Native and Chinese diasporas to tell larger stories of the power of ancestry and religion and the horrors of colonialism and the importance of community is a sight to behold. Georgetown scholar Dr. Zandria Robinson explains:

A few folks asked me on tiktok if it was too scary due to the vampire stuff. So let me address that. I can’t stand horror films. I don’t like blood and gore and all that stuff. There’s a couple jump scares in the film. But it’s really not bad. And I wouldn’t consider this as a “vampire movie” so much as a movie with vampires, per se. (Watch it and you’ll understand.) So think you’re ok.

Besides, missing out on this film means missing out on a particular scene that I will not ruin for you here except to say you’ll know it when you see it and that I think it will be remembered in the same way we think about the restaurant tracking shot in Goodfellas.

There’s simply so much to discuss here that I needed to call in a favor and get an absolute heavyweight for the pod. Dr. Zandria Robinson was my dream guest for this episode. And she graciously agreed to come on. We’d never met prior to recording but this was instantly one of the best experiences I’ve had since starting the pod two and a half years ago. I don’t know how to say this lightly so I’ll just say it: Dr. Robinson is a GENIUS. And she’s AMAZING. So our conversation on this film included discussions of the Jim Crow South, Chicago, African American veterans of WWI, Black musical traditions, Celtic traditions, the diversity of Clarksdale, Mississippi, the Ku Klux Klan, religion, dance, and so much more. In the clip below, Dr. Robinson speaks about the Great Migration:

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About our guest:

Dr. Zandria F. Robinson is a writer and ethnographer working on race, gender, sound, and spirit at the crossroads of the living and the dead. A native Memphian and classically-trained violinist, Robinson earned the Bachelor of Arts in Literature and African American Studies and the Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Memphis and the Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from Northwestern University. Dr. Robinson’s first book, This Ain’t Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South (University of North Carolina Press, 2014) won the Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Outstanding Book Award from the Division of Racial and Ethnic Minorities of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. Her second monograph, Chocolate Cities: The Black Map of American Life (University of California Press, 2018), co-authored with long-time collaborator Marcus Anthony Hunter (UCLA), won the 2018 CHOICE Award for Outstanding Academic Title and the Robert E. Park Book Award from the Community and Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association.

Robinson is currently at work on an ancestral memoir, Surely You'll Begin the World (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux), a life-affirming exploration of grief, afterlife connections, and how deep listening to the stories of the dead can inform how we move through the world after experiencing loss. Her 2016 memoir essay, “Listening for the Country,” was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Essay.

Dr. Robinson’s teaching interests include Black feminist theory, Black popular culture, memoir, urban sociology, and Afro-futurism. She is Past President of the Association of Black Sociologists, a member of the editorial board of Southern Cultures, and a contributing editor at Oxford American. Her work has appeared in Issues in Race and Society, The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, the Annual Review of Sociology (with Marcus Anthony Hunter), Contexts, Rolling Stone, Scalawag, Hyperallergic, Believer, Oxford American, NPR, Glamour, MLK50.com and The New York Times Magazine.

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Find her books:

This Ain’t Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South

Chocolate Cities: The Black Map of American Life

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The Podcast

Ok a quick note on the pod- we know a lot of folks haven’t seen the film yet so this episode features a spoiler free opening where we talk about general impressions of the film, the casting, and some themes (all of which are apparent in the trailers). So if you’re interested in learning more about the movie, listen to the beginning and then STOP BECAUSE I DON’T WANT THIS RUINED FOR YOU. :)

Then Zandria and I jump into a deep dive into the film, exploring it fully. And folks, it’s really good. Find the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify below or wherever you listen.

Hey thanks for being here and supporting this substack and the podcast. We hit some records last week in weekly downloads so if you’d like to help support the mission and my work, you can do so by upgrading to a paid subscription, which you can do at the button below.

1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-were-best-history-movies-decade-180973862/

2. I will not knowingly visit a movie theater that serves Pepsi.