Sinners is a movie that I would never watch. For one thing I probably will watch a movie only once every couple of years due to a combination lack of spare time and my general aversion to things fictional. And secondly, horror movies with vampires would be the last genre of movie I would care to watch. I mean I have trouble getting all the sleep my body needs as it is, so why would I watch something which would make it even harder for me to sleep?
However, while there are a few degrees of separation, I do have a slim link to the movie itself. Well, sort of. Back in 2017, Chinese-American filmmaker Dolly Li produced a video series on Chinese food in America for Al Jazzeera. She had been referred to me by Los Angeles Times columnist Frank Shyong, who had written a front page Los Angeles Times story about me, as someone who could help her out with the San Gabriel Valley portion of her series, which also included visits to San Francisco and the Mississippi Delta. I guess I impressed her with what I told hear about Chinese food in the San Gabriel Valley, and she asked me if I would be interested in being the on camera guide for a food tour of the San Gabriel Valley. I politely told her she was crazy and should get somebody young and attractive. She said she would consult with the producers, who wholeheartedly agreed that I should not be the video guide. So I only ended up being noted as a consultant to the presentation. The final product was a great success, but I have no regrets about not pursuing a role in the documentary, as I figured that if I was in it, it would not have been as good.
Since writer-director Ryan Coogler chose Clarksdale, Mississippi as the setting for Sinners due to his family ties, he was aware of the importance of Chinese-American grocers in the African American community in Clarksdale, as well as other Mississippi Delta communities during that time period. So while most people may find the existence of Chinese American characters in the movie to be random, or some sort of strained attempt at diversity, it was an accurate representation of something that actually existed. Coogler ran across Dolly Li's documentary profile of the Mississippi Delta Chinese population, and hired her to be a consultant for the movie to ensure the maximum historical accuracy.
Naturally I was tickled to hear of the depiction of Mississippi Chinese in Sinners. Furthermore, I ate at a Chinese restaurant in Clarksdale in 1976, and coincidentally I wrote an article about this visit just last year. Plus we have distant Mississippi relatives on both my father's and mother's side of the family. So given all this, will I break down and actually watch the movie? Well, not exactly. But since the movie is already on streaming I thinking I'll pull it up and fast forward it to the "good parts" (i.e. Chinese scenes).
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