Who hasn’t dreamed of leaving home, making good somewhere in the wider world, and then returning to our roots to make a personal dream come true?
That is the story of identical twins Elijah “Smoke” and Elias “Stack” Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan), two black men who return to their Mississippi home town in 1932 The Moores had spent years working for gangs in Chicago and return with money and supplies to open to open a “juke joint” (a black business providing drink, food, music, and a place for secular socializing in Jim Crow America).
The first step is to buy a defunct sawmill from its white owner, and the second is to recruit the locals they need to operate. Their ambition is bold – they plan to open that very night. Every one of these folks is a beautiful character study in a variety of southern black, small-town characters. In the process, some of the history of the brothers is revealed, including a deserted wife, a dead child, cast-o0ff girlfriend, an more.
However, there is trouble lurking in the background: the sawmill was owned by the local KKK leader, Hogwood (Dave Maldonado – “The Tomorrow War”) has plans to undo the sale and show the Moore’s who’s still boss. And much worse, there is an Irish vampire, Remmick (Jack O’Connell – “28 Years Later”) on the loose, also musically adept and on the run from a band of Choctaw Indians. This may sound like a mish-mash, but it works beautifully.
Writer/director/producer Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”) has assembled all the above, along with mesmerizing blues music to give us one of the best films of the year, nominated for multiple Golden Globes, Oscars, etc. There are outstanding performances all around, especially Jordan in his dual role, but also Hailee Steinfeld (“The Marvels”) as Mary, Stack’s former girlfriend, Miles Caton as Sammie, the preacher’s son who wants to be a guitar player, and Andrene Ward-Hammond (“The Lovebirds”) as Ruthie, Smoke’s wife recruited as cook at the juke joint.
The music is ethereal and the cinematography is gorgeous, capturing the essence of the south of almost a century ago. The cotton fields stretching almost to the horizon are something to behold, as are the pickers – sharecroppers and field hands bent over the bursting white cotton boles. But the real pleasure is the skillfully delineated characters who represent so many human personalities, with all their foibles and contradictions.
I highly recommend this film. Be forewarned there is extreme violence in some scenes and strong language.
Notes:
1. A month after it opened nationally, the film was screened in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where it is set. The town hosted panel discussions related to the film over a three-day festival, introduced by Coogler and other filmmakers.
2. The final scene of the movie plays after the closing credits have begun, so be sure to stay for it.
Runtime: Two hours, 17 minutes
Availability: Available in some theaters and IMAX, and on streaming services.
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