You play the blues – until the vampire comes – the press.com
In « Blood & Sinners » Ryan Coogler tells of the diversity of African -American culture, exclusion and poverty – until a vampire comes that sings Irish folk songs. An too much ideas. But captivating.
It was felt much longer than just seven years ago that with Ryan Coogler’s « Black Panther » a black superhero conquered the global canvases. The success of the cash register – with a pick -up result of $ 1.3 billion of one of the highest sales films in Hollywood history – was also celebrated as a sign of a new, open time for more diversity and equality. From today on, the optimism seems to be premature, especially since Donald Trump was in his first term. The « Black Panther » sequel, « Wakanda Forever », which was also staged by Coogler, could not repeat (with $ 860 million) in 2022, which was perhaps not only due to the shadow of corona apandemy and the beginning « superhero fatigue », but also the changed, darker-tuned zeitge.
The hopes that lie on Ryan Coogler than the most talented black director in the current American mainstream cinema have nevertheless grown. With « Blood & Sinners », for the first time since his debut film « Fruitvale Station » from 2013, he has brought an original fabric, which are also written, on the screen. And if there is one thing that you can’t blame Coogler’s new film, then the lack of ambition.
Michael B. Jordan plays twins
It can already be seen from the fact that « Blood & Sinners » wants to be more than just a genre film in front of the historical background of the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s, which is underlined with blues. Michael B. Jordan plays both, namely the twins Smoke and Stack, a distinction from the equipment by reddish hat (stack) and blue cap (smoke). Double meanings and opposites, not only as far as the temperaments of the twins are concerned, but also « big » topics such as blues and folk, black and white, dream and reality, run through this film as a red thread.
The first half of the film comes as an atmospheric history drama: The « Smokestack » brothers return to Clarksdale, Mississippi after years of absence. In their re -encounters with old acquaintances and relatives, it becomes clear that both fought as soldiers in the First World War and then brought it to some success in the underworld of Chicago. Equipped with a car full of alcoholic – in Mississippi there is still a prohibition – they want to build something new in the old home, a « Juke joint », a dance restaurant for which they have already secured an old barn.
A devilish seduction
When recruiting the most diverse colleagues, the brothers appear with the authority of their Mobster past. Both her young cousin Sammy (Miles Caton), who delights with his guitar skills, and the old bluesser Slim (Delroy Lindo) will follow her invitation with the idea of giving in a kind of devilish seduction. Even Stack’s old love Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), with whom he combines the unarvised trauma of a deceased child, has to displace her doubts about what the voodoo woman is difficult. Others accept the deposits with business pragmatism. This is how a group comes together that represents the diversity of African -American culture, but also the sharpness of the exclusion and poverty. What is actually a « bring the band together » by confidence is staged by Coogler with a melancholy that does not berry down anything.
The second half plays on the night of the local opening and is a wild mix of horror, action and parabola. It turns out that a white vampire is up to mischief and-Irish folk tunes singing-asks his « colleagues » for admission to the restaurant. In the fight against the undead, each of the figures presented must prove itself in their own way; The fight lasts until the redemption dawn.
Coogler would have talent for the musical
Although the first and second half of the film do not come together in everything and overall an too much ideas, but is not being developed, Coogler again proves with « Blood & Sinners » that he can captivate his cinema audience, be it with historical drama or vampire film. But he also shows what actually interests him the most: to emphasize the wealth of the African American heritage. The greatest sequence of the film is therefore a music and dance number at the height of the evening, in which the camera begins to fantasize, as it were and lets African regulars dancers appear in persona to hip-hop-DJ. Perhaps Coogler should stage a musical next.
