Raphael Saadiq, a renowned R&B singer and composer, knew the song he wanted to create before he picked up the phone when director Ryan Coogler called to go over the script for “Sinners.”
Feeling inspired, Saadiq took up a guitar. A few hours later, he and composer Ludwig Göransson, Coogler’s longtime partner, created “I Lied to You,” which is presently nominated for an Oscar and performed by Miles Canton, an up-and-coming actor who plays blues guitarist Sammie.
In an interview with CNN, Saadiq remembered, “I was sitting there thinking, ‘Preacher’s son plays blues, and it’s gonna be hard for him to get out to church and go do what he wants to do.” “I had that life. Many of my pals were like that.
With Coogler bringing all that history and ancestral memory—both the bitter and the sweet—to the big screen, “Sinners” has been directed from the start by those who have come before in the Black community.
On the surface, “Sinners” is a tale about twin brothers seeking a new beginning in their hometown of Mississippi, only to encounter vampires who endanger their lives and their aspirations.
However, it goes much beyond that. In a fantasy, Southern Gothic novel, it makes a statement on racial injustice and how we are all bound together by our shared history, religion, faith, music, and familial tragedy.
It is a realization of the ancestors’ aspirations that such a movie would go on to break the record for the most Oscar nominations, with 16, including best film and best director for Coogler. (The movie is made and released by Warner Bros. Pictures, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.)