The Filmic 5: The Lusty Month of May Edition
Your Weekly Film Superlatives By Critic and Film Scholar Jack Hanley
I. Film STILL Making Me Happy This Week
SINNERS (USA) Dir. Ryan Coogler
In SINNERS, Ryan Coogler steals away from fangs of IP to orchestrate a sumptuous (if not shaggy) plunge into southern gothic horror, where sin seeps through the floorboards like molasses and seduction calls through every note.
Subverting the genre with operatic ambition, Coogler boldly subverts the traditional vampiric allegory in a radically unexpected and political flourish that leans more Marxferatu than Nosferatu- and about damn time.
It’s all rendered with deft film-making, glorious cinematography, and a sumptuous soundtrack- a haunting dirge dressed in church whites, baptizing its audience in blood, sweat, and Black Southern transcendence.
While the players are all transcendent (extra pours for Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, and the chronically underrated Delroy Lindo), make no mistake the music steals both souls and the show. Coogler seems transfixed by the horror of the American experience, and thus scores his polemic with the music of the oppressed, both new and old “American others” alike. Be it slide guitar or fiddle, colonial memory is fused to the strings.
Although the final act cannot ultimately fully rise to the promise of its earlier “monsters of metaphor”, make no mistake it is ONE HELL of ride. Be sure to stay through the credits for an unexpected coda that proves the best stroke of genius in this idea-rich gumbo.
I rather loved this film, and if this is — indeed — Coogler’s most personal meditation, and the grand metaphor of his twin protagonists reflects the power struggle of his own artistic crossroads, then of the “twin Cooglers”, I know which one I’m rooting for.
*** 1/2 out of *****
SINNERS is returning to IMAX theaters this week!
II. Film Collection Seducing Me This Week
Guinevere knew that there is NOTHING more "lusty" than the Month of May- and our friends at MUBI streaming service have curated an brilliant series of short films to get you in the mood. Indulge your curiosity with ANIMATED DESIRES, a provocative and playful collection of shorts exploring sexuality through bold, surreal, and often hilarious animation – capturing the unfilmable in ways live-action can only dream of.
Featuring classics like Suzan Pitt’s surrealist Asparagus (1979) alongside fresh hits such as Phoebe Jane Hart’s comedic Sundance-premiering Bug Diner (2024), ANIMATED DESIRES celebrates kink, ink, and fearless self-expression in all its animated glory. Now streaming on MUBI.
III. Film Essay That Gets It RIGHT This Week
I've long argued that Best Picture winner ANORA merely employs its "romantic comedy" tropes as Trojan horse. You won't find a modern PRETTY WOMAN here, but rather a bleakly funny workplace comedy where sex, survival, and aspiration are all gig work under late stage capitalism’s deadening glow. Its harshest joke isn’t that "true love" is but a facade—but rather that almost every human connection is cruelly filtered through the exhausting calculus of labor, cost, and hustle. Check out this marvelous essay by critic Dennis Lim: Anora: Love’s Labors and then revisit this amazing film with less "rose-tinted" glasses. ;)
IV. Film Revival Making Me Happy This Week
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, Julie Dash’s radical and lyrical 1991 portrait of an early-20th-century Gullah community, returns this week at Film at Lincoln Center and selected screens across the country as part of the L.A. Rebellion: Then and Now series.
Revisit Cassie da Costa's 2016 interview with Dash HERE. Or, should you have the stomach for it, listen to our DAUGHTERS episode of BLINDSPOTTING: A Film Discovery Podcast where my co-host Scott Aigner and I discover and deconstruct this American MASTERWORK.
V. Film Recommendations I Endorse This Week
I couldn't agree more with EVERY selection of Greta Gerwig’s Favorite Movies: 32 Films the Director Wants You to See, brought to you via our friends at Indiewire. Look to this list when you need something lovely to watch this week.
Click HERE to discover the complete list!
Jack Hanley is a Boulder-based film scholar, podcaster, and critic. He is a programmer with the Chicago Underground Film Festival and Boulder International Film Festival. He is one-half of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast and Flicker with Jack and Scott on YouTube. Find him at Kinophilia on Medium and at HanleyOnFilm.com