Entertainment
Sinners’ Success Is A Condemnation Of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
Ryan Coogler’s period vampire movie Sinners made Oscars history with a record 16 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and nominations in three of the four acting categories. It has also been nominated for or won top awards from nearly every industry organization in the United States and abroad. It has drawn a lot of buzz since its release, and now that the Oscars are almost here, you should know if it was worth all the hype.
Michael B. Jordan plays Smoke and Stack, twins returning to their 1930s Mississippi home after a long absence. They plan to open a “juke joint,” a blues club for black people in the segregated South. They buy an old lumber mill, enlist their cousin Sammy and a bunch of friends to help run the place, and are all set for a night of partying. But when Sammy’s musical talents attract the attention of an ancient vampire and his newly minted minions, the mill becomes a prison of human carnage.
Sinners Detractors Call It A Tarantino Knockoff
A lot of people critical of the movie’s nominations have said that it’s basically From Dusk Till Dawn, but many vampire movies are going to have similarities. In this case, it’s probably the brothers and the enclosed location that remind so many people of the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez collaboration.
I think the movie has a lot more in common with The Lost Boys: two brothers that don’t belong to the mainstream being offered a chance to make a mainstream of their own with a new family. The vampire in Sinners is not a vicious killer but a lonely old soul looking for a collective and “finding” it by making one of his own.
Michael B. Jordan Does Double Duty And Earns His Nomination
Michael B. Jordan shines as twins Smoke and Stack, two different personalities with a conflicted past and a plan to change their community. Jordan switches between these characters very well, definitely worthy of his Oscar nomination, and maybe even more so because he had more to do in this film than the other actors with the nod, who only had one character to play.
Fellow nominee Delroy Lindo is heartbreaking as Delta Slim, a drunken pianist who is a staple of the Black community in this rural Southern town. Best Supporting Actress, Wunmi Mosaku, plays the very intriguing Annie, whose introduction to the movie serves as a beacon to the audience that the supernatural is already alive and well in this world. She is the closest parallel to the plot of From Dusk Til Dawn, filling in for Harvey Keitel’s “mean m-f’ing servant of God” with herbal magic and traditional African charms.
A Place That Feels Real And Authentic
Another major area in which Sinners shines is the establishment of its setting. The town, the slaughterhouse, and the fields all have an authenticity to them that draws you into their Depression-era world. No stone is left unturned: vehicles were chosen with care, costumes and hair were given close attention. Interior and exterior sets show no sign of divergence. The production design, costumes, hair, and makeup were all noticed by the Academy, with good reason.
The most important element of a story about music as a superpower is the music itself, and composer Ludwig Göransson received two nominations, one for Best Original Score and one alongside Raphael Saddiq for the song “I Lied to You,” the incredible arrangement performed by Sammy that draws the vampires to the joint. Aesthetically, this is the weakest scene in the film because it relies heavily on imagery that echoes through time and calls upon the heritages of everyone in the place, and the movie’s only anachronism made the scene both a little silly and amazingly intense. The message is clear: music is timeless, universal, and consolidating.
There are a few categories that I’m not sure it will win, such as editing and cinematography; not that these things were bad, but I haven’t seen enough of the other nominees to fairly compare them. Based only on its own merits, these technical achievements were outstanding.
Why Sinners’ Success Is A Condemnation Of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
Some complaints about the movie’s Oscar nominations claim that it is only up for so many awards because of its attention to race, both onscreen and behind the scenes. It’s true that much of the production was led by Black and Asian people, with writer-director Ryan Coogler of Black Panther fame, leading the way with his Filipino wife at his side.
That’s actually part of why this movie does deserve so many awards, though: this is a quality original film that is Black-cast and Black-led, evidence that such things exist, and that there is no reason for gratuitous inclusion in existing properties, like Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. The work put into this movie earned its acclaim organically.
The movie’s Oscars fate will be decided on March 15, 2026, on ABC and Hulu. Does it live up to the hype? To me, it does, but judge for yourself, because Sinners is streaming free to subscribers on HBO Max.