thebreadwing

[thebreadwing]

hey gamers I’ve started watching star trek does anyone else see the romantic tension between captain kirk and mr. spock

[thebreadwing]

I found an interview with Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson talking about the music of Sinners, and there's a very touching part about how the mid-credits scene came to be. So, spoilers below:

The final scene in the film, technically a post-credits scene, was actually the first one shot chronologically. Coogler wanted to show a more recent link to the story’s century-old events, and he really wanted his uncle’s favorite blues musician, Buddy Guy, to be involved. But he quickly learned that Guy, now in his late 80s, hadn’t been to a theater since the “fish movie,” a.k.a. “Jaws,” and he despaired of his chances. Still, he arranged to go see Guy play in Chicago. “I get to the show,” says Coogler, “and his whole family is in the backstage room — his grandkids. And they’re like, ‘Oh, cool, we’re going to bring you to see our grandpa.’ And me and Zinzi go in there and sit down, and he’s like, ‘Yo, man.’” “I’m not a movie guy,” the bluesman said, in Coogler’s retelling of this momentous meeting, “but my kids love your movies and they tell me that I gotta meet with you. So I’m here — whatever you need. You want me to sing? I’ll sing. You want me to act? I’m on for the work. But I got you.” “I pitched him what the movie was,” Coogler continues, “and he told me his life story about being a sharecropper as a kid and going up to Chicago and trying to learn how to play. I broke down crying, because everything I had just written in the script, this dude lived.” “Outside of the supernatural stuff,” Coogler clarifies.

(x)

[thebreadwing]

Poor Sammie played literally his first gig and immediately got the worst fan to ever exist

[thebreadwing]

One of my favorite aspects of Sinners how they use the musical scenes to build tension. Because they start out small, with just Sammy and Stack in the car, then the performance with Slim at the train station, and then working up to the scenes in the barn.

The first juke sequence is the most visually stunning, of course. It's chaotic but overwhelmingly positive, beautiful, and joyous. When we move to Pearline's song, things start to darken. The thumping stomps are timed with the twins beating the man with the loaded dice. We've already seen violence in the film, but this is a steep escalation intentionally set to music.

Then, we think the tension is going down when the ******** show up (no spoilers 🤫), but they are so immediately unsettling that we never feel at ease. Their music is sweet and their voices are soothing, but it's a front, one that fractures pretty quick but shatters completely with the Rocky Road to Dublin.

Rocky Road is a perversion of the first juke scene, twisting the joyful chaotic energy of the dance into a masterfully disturbing parody, where the full evil and madness (and twisting of spirituality) of the ******** is put on display.

It's just such a good way to build the narrative. I love love love how serious they were about making music the keystone of every filming decision.

[thebreadwing]

I loved that the writing for Sinners was always on Annie's side.

When she was helping out the kids whose mother wasn't well, helping them out basically free of charge. Smoke tried to get her to change her mind, but she stood her ground.

When she told the twins that they should offer a discount to the juke joint patrons because they had worked so hard, they deserve a break. She had a point!

Every part of the vampire mythology, she was right about.

And... Smoke respected Annie's choice at the end and fulfilled his promise. The writing made it crystal clear why that was what she wanted and who could blame her? The other option would have been hell to experience, especially after all she had been through! Smoke would've been so selfish if he didn't, and that would've been a terrible ending for both characters. (I mean, Smoke did still save Sammie, which was great, but he needed to respect Annie's wishes first for his arc to really stick the landing.)

Sinners was Team Annie. That was great to see.

[thebreadwing]

[thebreadwing]

Sammie :(

[thebreadwing]

[thebreadwing]

SINNERSSS 🧛‍♂️🥀🦇🧄🇮🇪

[thebreadwing]

😂😂😂😂😂

[thebreadwing]

the women of Sinners

[thebreadwing]

i love the blues <3

[thebreadwing]

The funniest part of Sinners was when the Native Americans just said “yeahhh good luck with that”

[thebreadwing]

remmick and the vampires present a false dichotomy

Hogwood (the man who sold the twins the mill) and the KKK are very obviously bad, they are outright malicious bigotry, they use the n-word and plan to lynch the moore's and their community, they are so blatantly racist and hateful it's unavoidably obvious

remmick and the vampires however say that they believe in equality, say that they want to create a community, and yet remmick's goal throught the movie is to both metaphorically and literally steal sammie's ability for his own goal of reconnecting with his irish ancestors, a white man wants to harm a young and upcoming black man and use talents for his own goals without giving any regard to said black man's autonomy or agency

when sammie sings 'I lied to you' in the juke joint and calls forth the spirits from the past and future, it's a blend of cultures; west african, east asian, native american, and african american song and dance blend together across time and space to tell the stories of blues; where it takes its inspiration from, the music genres it then inspired, the complex history of black american culture and its intersections with other peoples of colour in the USA

when remmick and the vampires kill and turn the people in the juke joint, and then perform rocky road to dublin, only remmick's irish culture is on display, there is no influence from the black and asian people he has forcibly assimilated into his song, it's juxtaposition with the earlier scene is blatant, remmick is more than happy to assimilate people of colour into his 'community' of 'equals', and yet its only whiteness that is celebrated, that is normative

remmick claims that he's doing people a favour by turning them immortal, conviently ignoring that he literally has to suck the life out of them to do so, trapping their spirits on earth, he claims that he's the good guy, that the KKK were gonna come and lynch everyone at the joint in the morning anyways, conviently ignoring that he's doing the exact same thing; a white man leading a mob to kill a bunch of black people

in the final confrontation with sammie remmick repeatedly dunks him into the river, a forceful baptism. both the celtic irish and enslaved west africans had their religions suppressed and destroyed by colonialsm, had christianity forced upon them by the british empire, and in that scene we see remmick repeating that cycle, using christianity to inflict harm, and sammie reclaiming christianity, despite all the complex emotions he has arround it, as many colonised peoples have and still do, when he recites the lord's prayer

remmick and the vampires are no less racist than hogwood and the KKK, are no less predatory or evil, they're just less blantant about their bigotry, they represent the system, the normalised white supremacy that is seeped into the very foundation of culture in america, the point isnt that remmick would call any of the black characters in the movie the n-word, i dont think he would, the point is that his exploitation and desacration and inserting-himself-into-when-he-wasn't-invited of the juke joint is a microcosm of what white people have done to black american arts and culture since ever since there have been black and white people in america, and even before that

theres a reason vultures are shown early on in this movie

[thebreadwing]

Sinners is what happens when directors are allowed to experiment with the genres like a horror musical that puts you in a trance and makes you question your existence while also being campy and funny but also breathtakingly beautiful but also haunting and terrifying? Yes please I literally did not want to leave the theater I wanted to just stay there and keep watching it over and over

[thebreadwing]

saw a theory that the SmokeStack twins were posing as one man in Chicago, which helped them get away with stealing from both sides. i'm poised to believe that because visually their clothing was very clearly of the two mobs. smoke was full irish— tweed, bowler hat. while stack had the full mafia look. yk italian leather shoes, fedora etc etc . like the details!!

[thebreadwing]

uhh... guys?