The Academy Awards may be the world’s most-watched film prizes, but they are still, as some put it, a largely local show. I paid little attention this year — until I heard that the film “Sinners: Sinners” (hereafter “Sinners”) had landed a record 16 nominations.
Most people expected “One Battle After Another” to dominate. So why did the less-known “Sinners” suddenly stand out?
In South Korea, the gap was stark. “One Battle After Another,” boosted by Leonardo DiCaprio, drew more than 500,000 viewers. Before its re-release, “Sinners” drew fewer than 80,000.
Yet “Sinners” was a major hit at home: North American box office accounted for about 76% of its worldwide gross (source: IMDb). Even so, it was striking to see a film by Black filmmakers and starring Black actors — centered on blues music from an era of discrimination — become the most-nominated film in Oscars history.
In the end, “Sinners” won four trophies out of 16 nominations, while most major awards went as expected to “One Battle After Another.” The nominations were a surprise, but the film did not overturn Hollywood’s usual order.
The ceremony ended with relatively little controversy. Still, “Sinners” merits a second look, particularly at a time when, as President Donald Trump issues ultimatums to the world, the United States’ standing appears to be slipping by the day.
My view is that the Academy’s attention to “Sinners,” after “One Battle After Another,” reflected a sense of urgency in trying to lift the image of an American empire whose prestige has fallen sharply.
Part of the film’s appeal in the United States, I believe, is that while it tells a Black story, it also captures — in vivid sound and image — something foundational about the country itself, prompting even Americans to reconsider what they may not have fully recognized about their own roots.
“Sinners” is a period piece set during the height of Jim Crow segregation laws. It layers music heavily into the story and eventually folds in occult elements, making for a complex plot. But its core is unmistakable: the blues.
For decades, the United States held the “world’s police” image, even in blockbuster fantasies where it shoulders the mission of global stability and peace. In reality, the country’s most decisive global impact has been cultural — especially popular culture. For years, U.S. content has dominated music and film charts worldwide. And at the root of that cultural force sits Black blues music.
“Sinners” treats the blues with reverence. In the film, a gifted blues player named Sammy takes the stage on the day twin brothers Smoke and Stack — who return home after running with gangs elsewhere — open a bar.
Sammy performs his original song, “I Lied to You.” The sequence that follows was powerful enough to quicken the pulse of an ordinary viewer like me, sitting in the corner of an almost empty theater in South Korea.
As Sammy sings and plays in 1932, the film collapses time: one person plays an electronic guitar; another DJs, then raps; others break-dance and twerk. At one point, as hip-hop unfolds, someone beside it performs Peking opera, a traditional Chinese musical theater form.
The film presents the blues as a vast, almost sacred force — one that blurs the line between life and death and gathers past, present and future into a single moment. The greatness it assigns to the blues is rendered with unusual clarity in the “I Lied to You” sequence.
What did American audiences feel watching it? Did they sense their country’s reach in a visceral way? The Academy, moved by that pull, nominated “Sinners” in 16 categories, granting it the distinction of the most nominations in Oscars history. That is where I see the cultural world’s urgency to restore the stature of an empire.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, that effort ended with four wins out of 16. It may have been too much to expect that the blues — music born of resistance — could by itself rescue the future of a declining empire. The question now is what Americans will look to next for renewal — and whether that answer lies not outside the country, but within it.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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