LWLies 107: The Sinners issue – Out now!

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.

On the cover

For this issue, we had to jump on the chance to have twin cover stars, and we’re so proud of how our interlocking double covers have turned out, created by the Pittsburgh-based illustrator, Noa Denmon. The intricate cover portraits offer little secret hints as to the character arcs of Smoke and Stack and the ordeal they go through, and she captures the film’s tone of supernatural dread with aplomb.

Also in the issue we have incredible new illustration work from Olivia Twist, Iain Macarthur, Rachel Bruce, Snids, and Nick Taylor.

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.

In the back section

Bong Joon Ho interview
We chat to the Oscar-winner on his big return to English-language filmmaking with the utterly goofy and charming Mickey 17.

Joshua Oppenheimer
Lucy Peters speaks to the writer-director of apocalyptic musical, The End, about his shift from documentary over to fiction.

Gints Zilbalodis
Fresh from his Oscar win for the breathtaking cat-based animation, Flow, the Latvian director explains how he made the miniature epic that could.

Kyoshi Kurosawa
Hannah Strong sits down with the Japanese genre maestro in Tokyo to talk about a raft of recent projects, including new UK release, Cloud.

David Lynch obituary
Hannah Strong on the influence and presence of the great experimental filmmaker who – for a time – found a place to play within the system.

Postcard: Rotterdam Film Festival
David Jenkins sends a missive back from this Dutch festival stalwart that offers divine esoterica, but sometimes a little less to write home about.

Sticky Gold Stars: In Praise of Marlon Riggs
Marina Ashioti looks back at the radical filmmaker’s searing and melancholy 1994 swansong, Black Is… Black Ain’t.

In review

Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17
Kevin MacDonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’ One to One: John & Yoko
Mikko Mäkelä’s Sebastian
Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow
Peter Cattaneo’s The Penguin Lessons
Haroula Rose’s All Happy Families
Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End
Alonso Ruizplacios’s La Cocina
Darren Thornton’s Four Mothers
Sasha Nathwani’s Last Swim
Manon Quimet and Jacob Perlmutter’s Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other
Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia
Karan Kandahari’s Sister Midnight
Gintz Zilbalodis’ Flow
Uberto Pasolini’s The Return
Steven Eastwood and Neurocultures Collective’s The Stimming Pool
Sinéad O’Shea’s Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story
Sandhya Suri’s Santosh
Onti Timoner’s Dig! XX
Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell’s Direct Action
Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught By the Tides
Leonardo Van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet
Dea Kulumbegagashvili’s April
Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud

Plus Matt Turner and David Jenkins review eight exciting Home Ents releases.

LWLies 107 is available to order now from our online shop. Join Club LWLies or subscribe today to make sure you never miss an issue.

Correction: In the feature Black & Blues: A Conversation With Ryan Coogler on the Making of Sinners, we would like to highlight a transcription error in the print version. Where Mr Coogler says, “Ludwig can’t play any instrument that requires breathing,” it should read as, “The only instruments Ludwig can’t play are ones that require circular breathing.” This will be updated in the online version of the interview. In the same feature, the 2015 film Creed was misattributed as being released in 2011 – this will also be updated.