Sinners (2025)

The Best Southern Blues Vampire Movie Ever

Dear Reader,

Some day, I’ll put together a full (and likely multi-part) Film Lit Pitch for Sinners. Today, I’m just jumping on quickly to tell you: don’t miss this movie. More directly, don’t miss seeing it in the theater.

I saw it last night, and it was everything I could want out of a movie-going experience. And I’m confident I’ll see it in the theater again.

My first instinct when I thought about how to describe the film was to echo the sentiments of Film Lit Legend and Friend of the Pitch Ryan Lee: with Sinners, writer-director Ryan Coogler takes big swings. And he connects on so many of those swings. Some day, probably sooner than later, Sinners will join such films as Interstellar, The Matrix, Fight Club, and Get Out. That is, if you haven’t seen it, you might have a hard time convincing a film nerd that your opinion matters. (For the record, I don’t feel that way. But I’ve spoken to too many people who do.)

But don’t see Sinners for that reason. See Sinners because it is a fresh and vibrant vision, one that radiates both confidence and competence at every step. It’s just so fun, such a joy to watch.

And at the same time, it executes a very high-degree-of-difficulty balancing act, in that it’s clearly a work of art—there are any number of thought-provoking and Film Lit-worthy discussion threads and rabbit holes—but it’s accessible and unpretentious. There’s really something for everyone. (And, to be fair, there might be a little too much for some people. Coogler isn’t shy about showing several graphic elements, especially violent ones.)

And that, of course, includes music fans generally and blues fans specifically. It’s not a musical per se, but music animates and elevates scene after scene. And the music rules. (While I’m at it, I won’t spoil any cameos, but I do think it’s fair to say don’t leave the theater before the lights go on.) I started listening to the soundtrack this morning, and it’s irresistible.

As I said, I’m unready to do a full and proper analysis of the film—part of the reason I want to see it again soon is that I’m sure I missed a bunch of the historical and cultural implications. But I would also feel remiss if I missed this chance to tell you that Sinners is the best time I’ve had at the theater in a long time.