We Are All Sinners
And damn do we sure fall short of the glory.
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“I pray that I’ve done my work so that when I’ve gone from here and all the turmoil, through the wreckage and rumble, and through whatever: When someone finds themselves digging through the ruins, I pray that somewhere in that wreckage, they'll find me. Somewhere in that wreckage, that they can use something I've left behind. And if I’ve done that, then I’ve accomplished something in life.”
— James Baldwin, in his last letter before his death to his brother David, 1987
On Thursday, April 3, 2025, I had the esteemed honor and privilege to have been invited to the New York City premiere of Ryan Coogler’s extraordinary film, Sinners, thanks entirely to my Brother Frederick Joseph.
In recalling my experience of that film, I noted that:
Cinematically, Sinners is a really gorgeous film. We got to see it on some kind of new 70mm film and a giant IMAX screen.
The world-building was exemplary. I had never seen a horror film imagine a world so thoroughly.
The film displayed top-notch innovation. Coogler made some directorial decisions that elevated the form in quite unexpected ways. There was that scene in the juke joint—which is now legendary—that I have watched over and over again because Lawd have mercy!
Michael B. Jordan really stepped up his acting game in this film. At the premiere, before the film started, Jordan said that Coogler challenged him in regard to his thespian abilities and it really shows.
Somebody should please give Delroy Lindo his lifetime achievement award. His performance—and all of his performances—are always so full of complexity and life. Not many actors can do what he does.
Wunmi Mosaku is positively radiant in her performance.
The secret climax of the film is sure to shock certain members of the audience.
Keep an eye on Miles Caton. This multi-talented budding genius has more brilliance in his pinky toe than most have in their entire bodies. If the old racism being practiced anew doesn’t interfere as it usually does, Caton should have a stellar career.
It was the first time I ever went to an A-list after party. It was fun, if intimidating, to be in the same room with someone like Delroy Lindo and tell him how much of a legend and icon we believe he is—and how humbly he responded, almost disbelieving.
And I also got to do the requisite Electric Slide.
Why am I bringing all of this up now? Well, next month, on March 15, 2026, to be exact, Sinners will be featured on the Academy Awards (also known as the Oscars) after receiving a record-breaking 16 nominations. For a Black person such as myself, the constantly questioning, impossible-to-swindle, and full-of-doubt-of-self-and-others kind, I experience competing feelings of pride and distrust at the announcement of accolades such as these. The split is, I imagine, a direct result of the schism my identity as an African American man provides: African and American: two parts that do not really fit together or are always at odds; and the last part (man) is resoundingly contested because of the first (African).
