FILM
SINNERS
They had a lot at stake.
Red eyes at night, vampire’s delight.
LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT RYAN COOGLER CAST THE FIRST STONE
★★★★
OUT NOW / CERT 15 / 138 MINS
DIRECTOR Ryan Coogler
CAST Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O’Connell
PLOT Twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Jordan) return to the Jim Crow South to open a juke joint — but vampires crash their opening night.
WE’VE SEEN VAMPIRES as a metaphor for sin, sex and even Mormonism. Now Ryan Coogler bring us vampires as colonialists, forever lustful for the divine spark in others. The result is very close to a Deep South vampire musical, and if that sounds weird, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who have returned after years of soldiering and running with gangsters to run a juke joint. They swagger around, stirring up excitement for their grand opening, but in quiet moments betray the watchful intensity of men who have killed before and who will again if needs be. Their cousin ‘Preacher Boy’ Sammie (newcomer Miles Caton), barely out of his teens but already an astonishingly gifted bluesman, joins them. With Smoke’s ex Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), a cook and voodoo priestess helpfully well-versed in supernatural lore; Stack’s ex Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), still mourning their break-up; and musician Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), everything is in place.