Sinners

Ever since this film started picking up great reviews left, right, center, back in April, I knew I had to see it—in theatres, too. But, alas, my luck is usually not great with movie theatres and good films, and so by the time I was actually free to see it, 2025's Sinners was already on digital. And then the hype died down. Though most people still believe that this is the best film of 2025, after a while, people had moved on to obsessing over other films, and in a way, my desire for this film died away a bit too. But then, just the other day, I saw a clip from this very film on YouTube and that desire had reawakened in me... So here I am, having finally seen this outstanding film. First of all, holy fuck are the performances in this film perfect. Every once in a while, I'll watch a film that is practically perfect from so many technical standpoints, and though I truly enjoy those types of movies, the films that are practically perfect from an acting standpoint are just so much better. That's what this film is. Though I was absolutely floored by the beautiful cinematography, color grading, and how half of the film looked like a series of paintings stitched together, the performances were what really held this film up as one of the best films of 2025 for me. I used to not like Michael B. Jordan a lot, but looking back after having seen him in *Fruitvale Station (2013) and now, Sinners (2025), I feel foolish to have not understood him as the extraordinary talent he is. Similar to Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17 (2025), he plays two characters in this film and similar to Pattinson, he completely knocks it out of the park. Differentiating Smoke and Stack was tough at first, but once I learned more about them as characters, I began to see the subtle yet sharp contrast Michael B. Jordan offered when playing the two twins. It's a credit to Ryan Coogler and his team that they made scenes between Smoke and Stack seem so impossibly seamless, but without Jordan also giving such a natural performance, as if his other self was standing right in front of him, those scenes wouldn't've felt complete. There's not much more I can say about his performance but you really have to see it for yourself to realize how great he is in this film. Furthermore, however, though Michael B. Jordan gave, arguably, the best performance of his entire career, he in no way carried the film on his own because everyone else was amazing as well. Miles Caton was the new talent in this film and, oh boy, did he absolutely crush it. It seemed as though he'd been acting for ages before this, and that's not even talking about his voice and musical talent. Other than Caton, Wunmi Mosaku also gave one of my favorite performances in this. Prior to this film, I'd only ever seen her in 2021's Loki and 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine*, so I had no clue of her acting talents, but it was a fantastic experience watching her be so front and centre of this film, delivering a strong performance that, along with Jordan, managed to touch my heart. Obviously, no matter how award-worthy performances are in a film, it can't make the movie a masterpiece. That can only happen if there's a strong story alongside it. Now, I'm not saying this film's writing is perfect in every way, like 2009's *Inglourious Basterds, for example, but goddamn is it good. One of my favorite parts of this film was how deep-rooted music was in the narrative. As someone who's fascinated by the role of music in history (I wrote 20 pages of research notes on it for an essay), I really enjoyed this aspect of the film. It gave the film so much more depth and gravity, rather than just being another Vampire movie. Speaking of music's role in this film, my god was the music awesome. Not only did Miles Caton, Delroy Lindo, and Jayme Lawson absolutely kill it with their amazing voices, Ludwig Göransson deserves an Oscar for the brilliant score he composed for this film. He clearly channeled his inner Hans Zimmer and used various instruments from blues and jazz, combined with classical score instruments to create something that just felt so Sinners*. Moving on from the music, I also really loved the pacing of the film; not many films can pull off being 138 minutes, but feel like 98, and I always respect the ones that do. Not a single scene felt like it was going on too long, or was unnecessary, or even felt like it was missing for the whole runtime. Well, that's partially true. I really did expect this film to be at least four-and-a-half star film—and it was so close to being the latter, too—but the ending kinda ruined it for me. Though I enjoyed the film throughout, I feel like ending the film right there with Smoke holding his baby daughter would've been perfect. No weird, unexplained, random, and sequel-baity mid credits scene; no unnecessary end credit scene. I know it's a really small thing to pick on, but that was really the only thing that prevented it from being an IB Level 6+ film. That doesn't make it even a remotely bad film, though. Regardless, however, 2025's Sinners is a tremendous film made with real love for music and filmmaking, and it's a film that I can see myself re-watching one day soon. See, white folks, they like the blues just fine. They just don't like the people who make it. Nominated at the 98th Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Casting, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Screenplay. 2025 Oscars 2025: Best Picture Nominees Ranked IB Level: 6- 4/5 **4 August 2025 chymp**