In a surprising twist, Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying drama Sinner has emerged as the big story of this year’s Oscar season, securing a record-breaking 16 nominations – the most for any film in the Academy Awards’ 97-year history.
This violent, high-energy fantasy about racism, music and the Black experience has administered an almighty smackdown to critical favourites such as Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
While the industry had been expecting landslides for these classy, upmarket fare, Sinner has proven to be a force to be reckoned with, challenging the accepted assumptions of awards season. As one character played by Delroy Lindo, who is himself rightly nominated, remarks: “White folks like the blues just fine, just not the people who make it.”
Sinner fans will be cheering on its subversion of placid awards-season verities. The film’s refusal to adhere to generic expectations and its willingness to push the boundaries of what is admissible in a realist drama have earned it widespread acclaim.
Though the journalist admits to preferring some of Coogler’s previous works, such as the Afrofuturist superhero adventure Black Panther, the boxing drama Creed, and the social realist essay Fruitvale Station, he concedes that Sinner is “arguably more structurally ambitious” in its approach.
The film’s success has sparked a separate culture war, with contrarians weighing in on debates around the inspirations for Paul Mescal’s performance in Hamlet and the portrayal of Trumpism in One Battle After Another. Meanwhile, Sinner has been fighting and winning its own battles, delivering a mighty achievement for a highly individual film.
Regardless of what happens on the night, Ryan Coogler has made Oscar history with Sinner, and the film’s leading man, Michael B. Jordan, is sure to be rewarded for his very stylish performance. The journalist predicts that while One Battle After Another may edge out Coogler in the Best Director category, Sinner could yet rule this awards season.
