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A lot of movies go by a working title while they are being made, sometimes this is to draw away potential press interest like when Return of the Jedi was in production under the name Blue Harvest or when The Avengers was known on the shooting schedules as Group Hug. Sometimes it is a genuine working title in that it was a potential name that would have fitted the material but they just hadn’t decided on it yet, as with Three Thousand Dollars which became Pretty Woman, Scary Movie which was renamed Scream or Ship of Dreams which was the title of James Cameron’s Oscar winner before they settled on the more obvious name Titanic. Apparently Alien was originally being called Star Beast but I don’t suppose they were ever really going to go with that (although they did stick with Snakes on a Plane). 

Often in their early days some movies will be referred to as something seemingly random, as with Deadpool once being called Wham and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspain going under the temporary title Toastie. For his new film Sinners, director Ryan Coogler went with this latter model, particularly following that Narnia film, by having the working title be Grilled Cheese. 

Coogler explained this by saying that while his previous films are comparable to cooking complicated dishes, Sinners is more of a simple, enjoyable dish that anyone can enjoy. I think I know what he was trying to say, in some respects Sinners is a little more mainstream, but I think he’s wrong. This movie is way more sophisticated than Creed or the Black Panther films and in respect of those last two, while they had important subtext, you don’t get much more populist than a Marvel superhero movie. No, if Sinners is grilled cheese then it’s certainly not just bread and cheddar thrown under the grill; this one is cooked in a covered pan, fried in the finest butter with a little bit of garlic and mayo and a handful of jalapeños and wafer sliced prosciutto thrown in. Sure, it serves up something that has been made a million times before but it is done with incredible style and wonderful individuality. Sinners is exceptional cinema. 

The supermarket cheese in this mix is the fact that this is a vampire film. Coogler leans on a lot of the establish lore around this and while it is all managed with style, it is not doing anything hugely different here. The film takes a while before the horror aspect is introduced and there is a good hour before this when we see the characters going about their business as they head to the bar they eventually get trapped in. This isn’t the innovative part though; Coogler has openly stated that From Dusk Till Dawn is a key reference point. One aspect that does feel exceptional is the characterisation. The film starts with twin brothers Smoke and Stack, both played with off the chart style and cool by Michael B. Jordan. They then gather around them a great group of players, each of whom you are instantly drawn to, some of them familiar faces and some not. Other movies have great ensemble casts though so whichever way you slice it perhaps this is just the artisan loaf.

The story has a great historical setting and this coupled with the Mississippi location allows Coogler to examine black culture and identity, and of course racism, with his typical expertise. This is compelling throughout and the second of these reaches a nicely satisfying moment at the end which almost but then definitely doesn’t operate as a coda. Again, great as all of this is though, we are still not there. None of this is new territory for cinema or Coogler.

The real secret sauce is the two other ingredients and the way they work together is what really makes Sinners stand out. One of these is the music which infuses every aspect of the narrative, and the other is the new mythology that it brings in, not about undead blood suckers, but something more romantic and mystical. The way this movie plays with song, and dance and magic is what makes it truly special and there is one extended scene in the middle that shows real audacity around this. It took me a minute but actually this moment is brilliant in its ambition and the boldness of its storytelling. To be fair though, everything, every part of this movie, combines perfectly.

Elsewhere in interviews Ryan Coogler has introduced a different food metaphor where he contradicts his grilled cheese idea himself. When asked about whether he has considered a potential sequel to Sinners he said that with this film he wanted to work on something that would ‘feel like a full meal with your appetizers, starters, entrees and desserts all there’. This analogy works much better as Sinners does indeed feel complete and is even structured like different courses. In a world that is dominated by established IP it is great to get something that so honours decades of genre cinema but still feels beautifully imaginative and genuinely avant-garde. 

Whatever you call it then, whatever flavour it is, this is an excellent movie. It is quite violent and bloody in places, but if like the central monsters you are not hesitant about this then I definitely recommend you too take a bite.

Oh, and stay to the very end as well. Don’t get down from the table until the plate is clean.