Ryan Coogler’s Sinners Golden Globes speech is more important than you think
Sinners, One Battle After Another, and Marty Supreme have found themselves in a three way free-for-all to begin Awards Season. But, Ryan Coogler’s speech at The Golden Globe Awards solidified how the director is approaching this victory lap for his fan-favorite movie.
Sinners took home the Box Office Achievement awards this weekend. Yes, the social media darling wouldn’t go home empty-handed after getting blocked out of the other categories. But, that still wouldn’t quell all the debate about the film online.
Coogler sought to thank the fans for coming out and supporting Sinners even when the movie faced such dramatic headwinds. At this point a certain picture is starting to form when considering the movie’s chances at Best Picture or Best Actor at The Oscars. That’s a sore spot for a ton of viewers out there.
However, the Awards Circuit shouldn’t get you down. In fact, take heart in the fact that so many film fans share that sentiment. You found something that speaks to you and that validation is enough. If Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and more are at peace with their lot, then we probably should be too.
In fact, the director’s larger point in the speech deftly tips his hand about what his goals for this movie were. Finding the right story for a group of people it would resonate with was at the top of the list. Everything else is gravy now.
Ryan Coogler’s Golden Globes speech
The director mused, “I just want to thank the audience for showing up. This movie was made by hundreds of people. We don’t always be working in the film business, wear tuxedos, and look glammed up — it’s usually a grind. We’ll be wearing like, performance fishing gear and being in the swamps.”
“It was an honour on this movie to know it was getting a theatrical release,” Coogler added. “We would remind people every day, in the dog days of summer, in New Orleans, like, ‘Hey, big movie, people gonna see this, big theatre.’ We didn’t know that they would show up, so we just want to say thank you that they did. It meant the world to us.”
Sinners’ impact doesn’t need a trophy for legitimacy
There was a time not that long ago when the idea of sitting in a movie theater with a bunch of other film fans seemed like a pipe dream. Now, folks are more or less back to going to the movies. Maybe not in the way they were in 2019. But, definitely at an improved clip from some of the showings in 2021 and 2022. Sinners might be the movie most emblematic of this cinema renaissance we find ourselves in the middle of.
The entertainment press might spend every waking minute of every week worrying about the state of the industry at large and trying to tell you that everything is gonna fall down because 2019’s gaudy inflated numbers aren’t coming back. Then, a movie like Sinners comes along and reignites the conversation which proves that the movies really never went away.
In a climate hostile to diversity, and the mere idea of a pluralistic society. Isn’t it a wonder that a movie like Coogler’s managed to snare everybody’s attention span anyway? Pair it with KPop Demon Hunters from Maggie Kang and Chris Applehans, and you’ve got a great counter argument to a lot of takes on what the future of American entertainment really looks like. I feel like that’s better than any trophy.
(featured image: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
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