#i love you ryan coogler

[vardapilled]

"No miseries worth complainin' about."

WUNMI MOSAKU as ANNIE SINNERS (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler

[manichewitz]

sinners is like the perfect horror movie to me because it’s simultaneously an unironically good, well crafted film, but also just a little camp. it’s a beautiful homage to blues music and it’s importance in black culture, it’s a metaphor for the long-term impacts of colonialism, it’s a challenge to the idea that hoodoo & other forms of black spirituality are dangerous, it’s a story about love and grief and human connection through music—and also a racist vampire does irish step dancing threateningly into the camera

[the-crooked-library]

a true testament to Michael B Jordan's acting skills is that everyone i've seen talk about Sinners online is thirsting specifically after either Smoke OR Stack and generally has opinions over which twin is more attractive

[livingfandomly]

People saying they saw Annie as only a maternal figure when she showed up are wack. I saw her and KNEW she had Smoke by the balls. Literally. But I can 100% see why people would choose to diminish her sexuality because of how they perceive woman. Annie is such a gorgeous woman and more than that? Probably an even bigger point why people didn’t clock that Smoke was her man is because of the command and confidence she had over her femininity. She was the North Star of the movie and that’s just a fact.

[stressedbeetle]

omg can we please talk more about how Smoke said that he didn’t believe in any of the ghosts or hoodoo stuff earlier but when Annie was confronting Cornbread he didn't cut her off or disbelieve in what she said because HE LOVES AND TRUSTS HER

He might not've believed in the "ghost stories" but he didn’t have to because he BELIEVED IN ANNIE

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

[somebodys-babyy]

"I Don't Need a Veil to be Your Wife"

Summary: Elijah is back in Clarksville after the war, and much to Annie's annoyance he is insisting on making her a proper wife. But he's never told her no before, and she plans on shortening their engagement.

Contains: Non- Coogler timeline, brief teenage Smoke and Annie, slight sexual frustration, brief teenage flashback!! Takes place before Smoke and Stack leave for Chicago. Slight angst but Smoke's an angsty ass man so... PART ONE OF TWO

Annie’s grandmama Odette had always said that Elijah couldn’t fathom how to say no to her, and Annie never could dispute that. It had been that was since their meeting, when Annie was newly eighteen and newly up in Mississippi from Louisiana when she  approached three boys who looked around her age sat on the side of the general store asking about where Ms. Hazel, a woman who her grandmother met at church, lived so that Annie could deliver an envelope to her. Instead of telling her, the tall, reedy and somber boy stood up and told her that he would escort her on the way, interrupting whatever he was doing with who looked like his twin and what was most certainly the store owner’s son, walking elbow to elbow with her until they arrived at the home of the woman her grandmother had befriended. After handing Ms. Hazel the folded paper, Annie expected to part from the boy who had told him his name was Smoke and then told her his name was Elijah after she pressed. For him to take his watching eyes and his silent demeanor and at the very most walk back to that store where she could find her way back home, but he had insisted on taking her back to her house, which he did, slowing his walk to match her pace and inquiring in his low, rocky voice about where she was from and how she had ended up in Clarksville. 

             Annie had felt something deep inside her, a knowing place that she had a hard time expressing to anyone but her grandmama, that the boy would mesh in her life somehow, but she didn’t know that immediately after their chance meeting he would become her man, her first relationship ever. She didn’t know how much time they would begin to spend together, with him showing up at her house in the evenings after they both had long, hard days just to pull her tired feet into his lap and rub them until she shook with laughter. And she didn’t know that the distant talks of conflict and war that felt so out of step with their lives deep in the South, and the pain that they all knew all too well,  would pluck both her Elijah and his brother out of the only home they ever knew and over somewhere across the ocean and anything like the life they had. Like most unexpected things, it was hard. Annie’s fingers had a constant soreness from her ministrations, and her knees were raw from prayer, but as abruptly as he was taken from her, Annie’s Elijah appeared back at her grandmamas' house. Older, taller, broader, with he and his brother each lugging a metal trunk with them and a new sharpness that they didn’t speak about. 

  And if everyone thought that Elijah indulged her before, it was nothing compared to when he came home. He moved her out of the crowded house that her family shared, and he ended up at her door everyday, with European magazines, some of them with words that she could pick out because they resembled the Creole that was her first language, and with rich candy that he had carefully wrapped to survive the long voyage over the ocean so that it made it to her. And even with all that, when Annie offhandedly commented that she was craving pralines in the afternoon, by the evening Elijah was handing her a fresh warm bag filled to the brim. It felt like what they shared was even stronger after the time and distance, like he hung the moon just for her, like he would have done anything to make her happy. The only thing that Elijah wouldn’t do, no matter how much Annie asked, was drop the idea that he had thought up that they should be “properly wed.”

                 Annie had told her Elijah that she would be satisfied to jump the broom like the old folks did, so that when their feet landed on the ground they would be forever paired. After he rejected that idea, Annie had suggested that if he was worried about propriety they could  ask his uncle, who was always heavily suggesting that she attend the church anyway. It would be an annoyance, but one that she could bear to marry him. Elijah turned to her, his eyes intent on her, serious. “After the Armistice, Stack and me had some business to take care of before we came home. We went to places I never even heard of, couldn’t hardly pronounce let alone pin on a map. Places in the French hills, and the German woods, London and Italy; making some things right and talking to all kinds of people. The one thing I noticed for sure, across all those different places is how them men kept they women. Them women got kept soft- hands soft,skin soft, dresses made of satin and silk and lace. And they all got wed proper. Not like horses in the back of a barn, or in no church that’s barely standing. Them women showed us pictures of they weddings before war broke out and they was grander than anything you or I probably ever seen. They walked in these big churches, with fancy dresses they boxed away for they daughters one day.” Elijah explained to her, his gaze mostly fixed on her, some of it far off somewhere that Annie could not follow. She felt the hurt shimmering off him hot and prickly, and Annie pushed through that stinging layer and laid her hand on his arm, bringing him back. 

“I love working, I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t do the work that my mama and her mama and her mama all taught me. The people we love would be worse off and I would be less of me. And my hands already how they gonna be, Elijah. They feel like your hands, and there ain’t never been nothing wrong with that. If you and Bo and Stack carrying on with all this for me, I don’t need it and don’t really want it. I just want you. We lost so much time, that war took so much time from us and all I could do was pray that you would come home to me whole. And here you are, my miracle. And I don’t want to lose no more time with you.” Annie said softly. The words filled the small room, adding weight to the room. There was so much that they didn’t say about the war, and right before, the war that he and his brother had been fighting at home. They had both left quick; travelling up to St. Louis and adding two years to their age to put distance and time between their evil snake of a daddy and what Elijah had done to protect his brother from him once and for all. Annie didn’t need to bring it all back up, she saw the weight on Elijah’s shoulders- the things that pulled him out of his sleep shaking, his jaw clenched biting off a scream or a cry until she laid his head on her chest and held him to her until sleep took him again. He had that look as he stood in front of her now; his brows lowered, his gaze hot and heavy and full of new pain and old pain, his pain and her pain and his brother’s pain too. 

There was a long stretch of silence before he spoke, his voice strained but steady, like he was fighting against the tide in some deep water and struggling to not have it pull him under. “Annie, I need to do this.” Elijah said, pulling her into the water with him. It was cold and clinging, and drove Annie closer to Elijah's warm insistence. “I hate that I had to leave you, when all I wanted was to be the man that you needed. I spent my days seeing you in every rock and bird and everything around me, and I spent my nights seeing you and hearing you and feeling you in my dreams, just out my reach. It was torture, Annie, and I knew that when I came home to you I would be the man that you I always wanted to be for you.” Annie inhaled, ready to comfort him as he that hot and spiking pain radiated off him in waves, a shocking feeling against the cold of the memories surrounding them. But Elijah pressed on- “I know what kind of man you deserve Annie, a man who will care for you and love you and see how beautiful and precious you are. And this is that for me, Annie. I dreamed about it, poured over the details whenever my mind wandered back home to you. And I know that all you want is to have me, but I want to start our lives together as the man you deserve.” There was so much Annie wanted to say; Elijah was the man that she wanted when she met him gangly and sharp eyed at fifteen, and he was still that man now. She would never be those women in the photos that he saw, and he would never be those men, but she would be his and he would be hers and that was all that mattered to her. But that wasn’t true. The thing that mattered most; more than making up lost time that could never be recovered. More than starting their lives when the life that they were living was a new kind of beautiful, was Elijah. Standing in front of her, his heart wide open to her. So instead of pressing him, Annie agreed. 

So, newly committed, Annie leaned into Elijah’s plan for their wedding.  She showed up to Bo Chow’s store after hours to let his fiance Grace pin all types of scrap fabric to her so that the actual dress remained a surprise. She endured the sly smiles that Stack and Bo were always tossing at her like cats who ate the canaries, and the curiosity of the people of Clarksville who saw the SmokeStack twins running around secretively with that wiley Bo Chow in tow; dodging the questions of people who stopped her during her errands or lingered at her counter or her porch, thinking of ways to get answers out of her. And it was true, she always knew what them boys were up to, and out of the 3 of them she was the least likely to shoot the question asker, but this wasn’t moonshining or numbers running or anything that they had wrapped her up in the times before, it was her wedding and she was determined to have it be as special as Elijah wanted. So Annie cut people with cold stares and non-responses, or she tucked the truth behind her smile, and she let Elijah be her bridegroom the way that he wanted with no more push back, except in one way that was just between them anyway. 

Since he came back, Elijah had not touched her. He would kiss her, chastelike and noble, and when she would lean into him or let their touches linger, Elijah would get that firm set to his jaw that he got when something was absolutely going to go his way. When, after almost 2 weeks of wedding planning with no end in sight and no break in the tepid misery that Elijah was inflicting on her, Annie asked him flat out to give her a little kindness and please take her to bed, he fixed her with a stare so steady that it did not help her current condition, he said “I want to do it right, darlin’. Please keep being patient with me. It won’t be much longer.You know I want you too. But I want you as my wife.” And like with so much else, Annie agreed because them laying together felt all wrapped up in Elijah’s idea of her wifeliness and his love and care for her. They had done it once before he and his brother left; both of them in her grandmama’s house while everyone in her family was at a church revival the town over that Annie had gotten out of through extreme planning and much convincing. Elijah showed up at her door at dusk, biting his bottom lip with all of the words that he couldn’t say. Two Black boys traveling alone in between plantations was dangerous, enlisting when they barely tolerated Black men, even  as cannon fodder was dangerous. Staying here, with the rumours of what he’d done swirling and beginning to catch the ears of white men who were ever present with a punishing hand when they got drunk or bored enough, was dangerous. And they both knew it. 

When Elijah showed up the night before he and his brother were set to disappear into the new violence of war, Annie had pulled Elijah over the threshold and into her arms, and he was on her like a man possessed, chanting her name like it was enough to bring him with her through the power of his desire. “Annie, my Annie.” he breathed, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes on her like they always were. “Elijah.” she responded, needing no other words. Elijah laid Annie down on the quilts where she slept every night and dreamt of him, he kissed her mouth soft and reverent, his words spilling out “I love you, Annie, you know that. I love you more than anything. Annie, my Annie. My only. Only you.” Elijah said in a voice barely above a whisper that was raspy with feeling and want. He felt at home between her legs where he had situated himself, his arms braced on either side of her as he laid soft kisses on her mouth and on the skin of her neck and throat that practically throbbed with a heavier want than Annie had ever felt before. “I’m gone miss you everyday. Think of you everyday.” Annie breathed as Elijah kissed her throat with his mouth open and hot. “Yes.” he said firmly, sucking on the column of her throat in confirmation, making Annie buck up into him, her open hips connecting with his. They hadn’t discussed this; it was laced in their every interaction, especially after Elijah had told her him plan to go to war; and every woman in her life had begun eyeing her for new signs of womanhood because everybody saw how ‘that surly twin’ had taken to her, but the two had spent most of their time discussing ways to keep him and his brother together and safe with the little knowledge that they could both gather about the matters of warfare.

But as the dusk settled into the night where her love was leaving for who knew where and for who knew how long, Annie knew that it was right. That as slow and steadily as she fell in love with Elijah before she really knew what all that meant, this was the only next place to go.That everything that they had shared was always leading her here. To give her body over to him just like she had her heart. It was all his from the day that he had walked alongside her to Ms. Hazel��s, walking on the outside of her to shield her from the road, his hat in his hand. “Annie, I need you.” Elijah said, his low voice twinged with a whine Annie never heard before, the need in his voice making her feel powerful and shaky and like a swirling ball of need so hot that she knew Elijah could feel it rolling off her. “You always have me.” Annie said, walking her fingers up his straining forearms, feeling goose pimples in her wake. 

They made love there on her floor, tangled in each other and the blankets that she had laid on since she was a little girl, that she had bought up from Louisiana and patched a thousand times over. Braced in between her past and her future, Annie felt Elijah ease her skirt up over her thighs, his hands sweaty, slightly trembling, but sure, and then they were together. Like neither of them had ever been before, like both of them needed to be more than they needed to breathe. Annie watched Elijah’s face, that stony focus that he always had breaking up to something else, like the sun breaking up storm clouds. she watched his bottom lip between his teeth, watched his eyes on her, roaming from her face to her chest and back up like it was all too much to take in. She felt her body adjust to Elijah like that was where he belonged. They didn’t speak, the moment was too momentous for something like words to interrupt. The sound their union made was their shaky, hilted breaths, and the shifting of everything around them. 

Even though they didn’t speak, Annie heard that night for years after; the conversation between their bodies. She dyed the quilts, she she washed them with the soap so strong and water so hot it stripped her hands for days, but every night after, after Elijah woke up that morning and pulled himself away from her with all of the effort in his body, Annie could still hear the conversation of their bodies as feverish and needy as ever, insistent in her ear. And she heard it now, as her Elijah denied her for the first time, and for the thing that she wanted more intensely than she anything in the world now that he had come home to her. And just because Annie had agreed to let Elijah become her husband in the way that he wanted, that didn’t mean that she still wouldn’t try to get him to give a little too, and give into her the way that she wanted.Elijah had told her that they were only waiting on one more element, something secret and necessary that would take around a week and a half to arrive. And with the time of their union set, and all of the other details settled, Annie went to work getting her sweet, steady man to break.

[forbidden-interlude]

Something else about Sinners (yeah I’m never gonna shut up about this) is the way black people and vampires are portrayed as sharing similar lifestyles. This is really emphasized when Pearline sings Pale Pale Moon. The lyrics talks about black people working all day in the Jim Crow South and the only time they have a semblance of freedom is under moonlight. Pearline even says that she doesn’t want the sun to shine and she doesn’t care if it never shines again because under the pale moon they can sing and they’re free!!!!

[botanycrewmember]

Another thing that I love about vampirism as a metaphor in Sinners is that the hivemind mechanism is presented as a violation of the autonomy and privacy of the individuals being assimilated into the herd. Remmick presents vampirism as a solution to the racism faced by the Black characters in the movie, but we see how it is no difference to the oppression that other white characters inflict on our protagonists.

Earlier in the film, Delta Slim recounts how he and his fellow inmates were made to perform for white audiences, and how he realized that white people liked their music but absolutely HATED the people making the music.

Later, we see four instances where Remmick controls his vampire thralls to sing for/with him: the cringy Pick Poor Robin Clean, the eerie Go Lassie Go, Rocky Road to Dublin, and Pick Poor Robin Clean (cursed reprise). In each scene, the vampires move in sync, performing purely for Remmick's purposes. This is a perversion of Sammie's juke joint moment, where the audience are both connected by his music and set free, which is symbolized by the wall of the sawmill burning down as everyone dances with wild abandonment.

The hivemind also steals its members' memories, not to cherish but to use as tools of control. Remmick uses the memories and language he takes from Bo to taunt Grace, turning what is private and comforting into a weapon. It's also most likely another factor in why Annie is so adamant that Smoke kill her if she gets bitten; they can't risk having her knowledge of hoodoo desecrated in the hands of the vampires.

TL;DR: Vampirism in Sinners is not the answer to racism; it's the same tenets repackaged to seem more accepting while stamping out individuality to serve one (1) culture's means.

[inyourcity]

Smoke looking solemn and being entirely engulfed by the static enormity of the juke (which becomes an embodiement of the church as the night progresses, offering community and protection from outside harm), whereas Stack smiles coyly, playing in the face of the oppressor and framed by the gentle white of the open sky. It really subverts the expectations of who lives and dies by their beliefs and who becomes a vampire.

After you see the movie you understand the enormous tragedy that permeates the narrative, even if the music and framing speak contrarily. They're both standing in front of and before what eventually kills them. This is an open shot in a hopeful moment that is undermined by the intentional suffocation of the protagonists, who can't escape their fate of being either victims of the vampires, the klan, their scheming. or the jim crow and sharecropping lifestyle if they are to survive, regardless. Is there more freedom in death if you can't control how you live? Smoke framed by the juke and Stack standing before the sun, both framed by what does (and eventually will) kill them, but also what they choose to live by.

[aintnoloveintheheatofthesun]

Upon reflection

Sinners blends several genres. Namely coming-of-age, period drama and musicals. All of these genres feature prominent love stories. This film is no different.

The Juke Joint is a place of fellowship and community. It is packed with Sinners who need reprieve and comfort. In this place, we reckon with death, resurrection and baptism.

On the way to Clarksdale Station, the best man (Stack) has already given Sammie some brothely advice on how to please a woman. Once they get there, Stack introduces Preacher Boy to a man who would be willing to officiate the ceremony.

Delta Slim is an elder that they all respect, he is the officiant. He has to be the one that weds them because Sammie's dad would be repulsed by the venue, the relationship and their love of secular music.

When Pearline and Sammie first speak, she doesn't tell him her last name (because it's about to change). She also gives him her hand (in marriage!!!), letting him know that she is interested

Later on, in this scene where its just Slim and Sammie on stage, he is teaching Sammie about the power and responsibility that comes with this choice. He addresses the congregation before welcoming the groom to the front.

'I Lied to You' is a proposal. Preacher Boy is at his most vulnerable, baring his soul, hoping the love of his life will know what she means to him.

The resonator guitar is the ring. It is the only thing Sammie is holding as he proposes to her.

Pearline spends most of this song dancing for Sammie and Sammie spends a good couple of verses, just singing to the love of his life (as we see in the End Credit Scene flashback)

"Somebody take me in your arms" is not just asking for companionship, but acceptance. Kind of like "take me as your lawfully wedded husband" without the legal bits cause you know Pearline already has a man

In the back room, Pearline happily tears off her scarf (her veil) and kisses Sammie all while he looks drunk in love

Ignore the random planks of wood in the back and tell me this isn't giving honeymoon

Sammie goes down on to his knees as a declaration of his feelings and a testament to his loyalty. Pearline accepts the gesture (the I do moment)

Of course, Pearline is nervous on their wedding night (the 'hold on, Preacher Boy' 'let me wash up first') but Sammie is a man in love so naturally, he reassures her.

The ceremony is a small, private affair. With only a few witnesses (Stack's nosy ass for Sammie and Grace for Pearline)

Moments later, we see them both looking proud and joyful with Pale, Pale Moon

This is their reception. Everyone is thriving, celebrating love and new opportunities. It is a joyful, vibrant affirmation of their love. In a cut scene, Sammie is admiring his woman as she shines on stage. There is nothing but adoration in his eyes. He found a wife, and a good thing (Proverbs 18:22)

From some angles Pearline even looks like she is wearing a whitish/silver dress. Just like a bride

Sammie is dressed like a groom with a smart shirt and a waistcoat (in contrast to the overalls Cornbread wears).

The father-son conflict comes back into play with the wedding metaphor. Jedediah doesn't approve of the Blues, let alone Pearline so when Preacher Boy walks back into the church Sunday morning - his father's first priority is getting him to renounce his vows.

Once again going back to resonator guitar = Sammie's wedding ring, because Sammie refuses to leave it behind despite his father's pleas.

In the space of two days, we see these two meet, flirt, get engaged, have their first kiss, get married and enjoy their reception.

Sammie sees Pearline when Jedediah mentions his heart because in this life and the next, that's his baby. He refuses to swear off the blues because that is what bonds them. .

These vows are yet another reason why Sammie isn't interested in Stack's offer. Why would he want to walk the earth as a vampire when the love of his life is already gone?

Side note: look at the way Slim is cackling behind them! That is a mentor, that is a father, that is a man that loves love.

Get into it:

The Juke Joint is the church

In that scene, their ancestors and descendants are present for this milestone

Delta Slim is the officiant

In the back room, Sammie gets down on his knees. Pearline tears the scarf off (her veil). This is their wedding ceremony. They kiss and walk away forever changed.

Stack and Grace are the witnesses (voyeurs, really)

Pale, Pale Moon is their reception.

The lyrics show that they are equally yoked.

Sammie's dad disapproves of this marriage, which is why he is so desperate for Sammie to repent the next day.

Putting down the guitar would be like taking off his ring. Swearing off the blues would be like renouncing his vows

Jedediah doesn't see that this is a married man standing before him. One who plans to honour his late wife for the rest of his days.

This shot is my thesis statement. In the Juke Joint, their descendants are on the left of them and the ancestors are on the right. Pearline's ancestor (sis with the pearls) is to her right and her descendant (sis with the strips of orange and black cloth) is on her left. Sammie's ancestor (uncle in the white bubu) and descendant (Jimi Hendrix with the electric guitar) also flank either side of him.

This blocking implies that the young couple have their families blessing. After Pearline has accepted the proposal, their families blend into one so by the end of the song, Pearline is flanked by Sammie's ancestor and her descendant while Sammie is surrounded by Pearline's ancestor and his descendant.

TLDR - We watch Sammie and Pearline fall for eachother, say their vows and kiss. Their loved ones are present for the proposal, ceremony and reception. They are married.

[zombie-bait]

Just went to see Sinners a second time and it was even better. That movie makes me feel things which is genuinely the highest compliment I could give any piece of media. The music, the pacing, the directing, the acting, the themes, the allegories, the vampires, the atmosphere, the MUSIC!!!! It all comes together so perfectly. I'm so incredibly glad I got to watch it in the cinema both times. This is a film that was meant to be experienced as a film. You need to let yourself be surrounded by the sound and the silence. The highs and the lows, the joys and the sorrows.

To quote another iconic story about black vampires (IWTV): Let the tale seduce you. Just as I was seduced.

[odetokeons]

i've connected the dots (you didn't connect shit) i've connected them

[ovaryacted]

On my way to watch Sinners a third time in the IMAX 70 mm format (yes I say the whole thing cause it’s important) and I just can’t fucking wait. After that, I may or may not have a fic lined up for y’all (I do). Hopefully I’ll post it by the time I get home and if not, definitely tomorrow. Toodles!

[amberkendslacy]

(It feels like a stupid question, but if you were listing musicals, would you include sinners?)

[leftoverghosts]

close the door

on this blog, remmick can stay his ass outside.

[kisstain]

sinners rereleasing in imax 70mm screenings and crashing the amc website by selling out within hours of the announcement.....like yes!