Little White Lies #107

Little White Lies has been at the vanguard of today’s generation of indie magazines since it launched, and is still as overflowing with love for movies as ever. One of the best places to turn to for reviews and insightful criticism, each issue focuses on a new movie.

Issue #107: Sinners

There’s a confidence and raw power to the cinema of Ryan Coogler that is astonishing in and of itself. From creating Sundance headlines in 2013 with his feature debut, Fruitvale Station, he has shifted seamlessly into the leagues of high-end franchise filmmaking (Creed, a brace of Black Panther movies) without ever allowing a formidable personal touch to become dulled or diluted.

Sinners is a passion project that the writer-director tells us he has wanted to make for some time, seeing the complex and protracted shoot of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as a good excuse to make something completely original and ripped from the heart. Inspired by the blues tunes played by Coogler’s own uncle, Sinners follows the twins Smoke (Michael B Jordan) and Stack (Michael B Jordan) as they return during Prohibition to their homestead of rural Mississippi from time away in Chicago to set up a juke joint and bring the party to the people.

However, malevolent outside forces begin to encroach, and a battle for the soul ensues. Coogler himself has described the film as one that hops playfully between genres, mixing musical, action and political elements into a potent supernatural base. We couldn’t help but be tickled by the fact that, when we spoke to Coogler about the film, he was sat in front of a giant poster for John Carpenter’s The Thing, which perhaps gives a few clues as to the paranoic, philosophically-laced thrilled that Sinners is.

As always, Little White Lies is a magazine focused on celebrating the craft of cinema and hearing from those who don’t often receive an equal share of the limelight. So we were thrilled to talk to a number of people whose work behind the camera gave so much richness and depth to Coogler’s grand, IMAX-filmed vision, which is out in cinemas globally on 18 April.

In the issue

Political Acts: The Cinema of Ryan Coogler
Leila Latif takes a trip from Fruitvale Station to Sinners to explore the work of this mainstream radical.

Black and Blues
Kambole Campbell talks to writer/director Ryan Coogler about his music-powered, IMAX-shot thriller, Sinners.

Twin Cinema
Michael B Jordan on his deep creative and personal connection to Sinners director, Ryan Coogler.

Roots
A look to the past and present at a rich history of Black excellence in genre filmmaking.

Saints on Sinners
Emma Fraser and David Jenkins talk shop with eight members of the cast and crew of Sinners.

Up Jumped the Devil
Jake Cole explores the abiding screen influence and interest in mythical bluesman, Robert Johnson.

Immortal Beloved
Jourdain Searles writes in praise of Bill Gunn’s seminal, experimental vampire allegory, Ganja and Hess.

On the Batwalk: A Vampire Fashion Survey
Soma Ghosh reports live from the catwalks of Transylvania on cinema’s most plushly-threaded vamps.