Wunmi Mosaku Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Sinners’ (2025), starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller and Delroy Lindo

April 15, 2025

by Carla Hay

Justin William Davis, Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton and Lil Jun Li in “Sinners” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Sinners” (2025)

Directed by Ryan Coogler

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in 1932, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the horror film “Sinners” features an African American and white group of people (with a few Asians and Native Americans) representing the working-class and the middle-class.

Culture Clash: Identical twin brothers open up a juke joint, and enlist their blues-musician cousin to perform on opening night, but the night descends into chaos when vampires attack.

Culture Audience: “Sinners” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and adult-oriented horror movies.

Peter Dreimanis, Jack O’Connell, Hailee Steinfeld and Lola Kirke in “Sinners” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Sinners” is more than a vampire movie. It’s a sexy, stylish, gritty and gory journey that expertly layers horror with the supernatural power of music and haunting legacies about violent racism. It’s a memorable film that uses familiar legends about vampires and puts them into an original story about emotionally damaged people haunted by their pasts.

Written and directed by Ryan Coogler (who is also one of the movie’s producers), “Sinners” has some twists and turns that offer welcome surprises. The movie takes its time in revealing several things about the main characters in the film. There’s a lot of dire tragedy in the movie but there’s also joyful celebration and some comic relief. “Sinners” capably balances all of these tones.

“Sinners” (which takes place mostly in 1932, in Clarksdale, Mississippi) begins with voiceover narration from a woman who is later introduced as Annie (played by Wunmi Mosaku), “a Hoodoo conjurer, spiritual leader and healer in the community,” as she is described in the movie’s production notes. Anne talks about musicians with special powers (who are called griots in African culture) and who play music that “brings healing to their communities, but it can also bring evil.”

The first scene in the movie is startling: A 19-year-old man named Samuel “Sammie” Moore (played by Miles Caton) bursts into a small makeshift church during a church service that has about 30 people in attendance. Sammie (whose nickname is Preacher Boy) is holding the neck of a damaged guitar. He has noticeable injuries, including bloody marks on his face that looks like he’s been clawed.

Sammie’s stern father Jedidiah (played by Saul Williams) is the preacher of the church. When he sees Sammie, he knows that Sammie has come from performing blues music at a nightclub, which is something that Jedidiah disapproves of and has strictly forbidden. Sammie plays music, which Jedidiah believes is the devil’s music.

Sammie is in obvious distress but Jedidiah only seems willing to help Sammie if Sammie follows this order from Jedidiah: “I want you to live those sinning ways. Drop the guitar!” Sammy holds a firm grip on the guitar. Jedidiah repeats the order again and again. What will Sammie do?

The movie then abruptly cuts to one day earlier. Sammie works as a sharecropper for his day job. He is well-liked and respected among his sharecropper peers. But in his heart, what he really wants to be is a professional blues music artist. It’s why he eagerly takes an opportunity to perform at a Clarksdale juke joint’s opening night. It will turn out to be a very fateful decision.

Sammie is a talented singer, songwriter and musician who takes performing gigs wherever he can, much to his father’s disapproval. As far as Jedidiah s concerned, the places where Sammie performs are cesspools of sin. Jedidiah warns Sammie: “If you keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s going to follow you home.”

Meanwhile, two identical twin brothers named Smoke (played by Michael B. Jordan) and Stack (also played by Jordan), who are both are World War I veterans, have returned to their hometown of Clarksdale after seven years away. During those seven years, Smoke and Stack (who are nicknamed the Smoke Stack twins) were involved in shady business deals (including bootlegging of liquor during this Prohibition era) and gang activities in Chicago. (It’s mentioned that Smoke and Stake worked for notorious gangster Al Capone when the twins were in Chicago.)

Smoke and Stack have come back to Clarksdale with enough cash and liquor to fulfill their dream to open up a juke joint: a nightclub in a barn or warehouse that caters mostly to African Americans and where blues music is performed. The twins name their juke joint Club Juke. Smoke (who likes to wear a blue newsboy cap) is the more ruthless and hardened twin. Stack (who likes to wear a maroon fedora) is the more diplomatic and smooth-talking twin.

Smoke and Stack meet with a local property owner named Hogwood (played by David Maldonado) to buy a mill and its equipment. Hogwood is skeptical about selling the property because he doesn’t think Smoke and Stack have the money for it. But when they show Maldonado the wads of cash they have to pay it, he quickly changes his mind. Hogwood is also an obvious liar when he makes a point of telling Smoke and Stack that the Ku Klux Klan doesn’t exist in the area.

Smoke and Stack are the older cousins of Sammie, whom they easily convince to be the performer for the opening night of Club Juke, which will debut that night. Smoke and Stack also enlist two longtime friends on short notice to work at Club Juke that night: Delta Slim (played by Delroy Lindo), a hard-drinking musician, will be Sammie’s piano player. Cornbread (played by Omar Miller) is a sharecropper who will be Club Juke’s doorman.

Smoke and Stack stop by a local grocery store to place big order of food, drinks and some other supplies for the juke joint’s opening night. And just like that, the grocery store owners—a Chinese American married couple named Grace Chow (played by Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (played by Yao)—are also hired to be the caterers for Club Juke’s opening night. Smoke and Stack have enough cash to quickly hire everyone to work that night.

Sammie has a crush on a local woman named Pearline (played by Jayme Lawson), a singer who is in an unhappy marriage with an older man. Pearline has an image of being too classy and refined to ever be in a juke joint. Sammie invites her to Club Juke’s opening night anyway so she can watch him perform.

Smoke and Stack have issues in their own lives that affect much of what happens in the movie. Smoke was married to Annie, but he abandoned her when he went to Chicago. He hasn’t seen or spoken to her in communicated with her in that seven-year period.

Naturally, she’s upset when she sees him, but Smoke seduces her into forgiving him. He convinces Annie to be a cashier for the juke joint. Smoke and Annie also share a tragedy: They had a baby son who died before he went away to Chicago. Annie and Smoke don’t like to talk about their child’s death.

Stack’s love interest is a feisty Mary (played by Hailee Steinfeld), who is furious with Stack because he ignored her and moved to Chicago shortly after they had a love affair. Mary is married to a wealthy white man but she prefers to hang out with black people. For some people, Mary might be considered a person of color because she mentions at one point that her mother’s father was half-black, half-white. But for most people, Mary is white because she looks that way.

All of these characters will encounter a trio of people who will cause mayhem at the Club Juke. It starts when an Irish immigrant named Remmick (played by Jack O’Connell) frantically knocks on the door of a married farm couple named Bert (played by Peter Dreimanis) and Joan (played by Lola Kirke) to ask them to hide him at their home. Remmick explains that some Native Americans have killed his wife and are now trying to find Remmick.

As shown in the movie, Bert is a member of the Ku Klux Klan, which is why he and Joan are inclined to automatically believe Remmick when Remmick says that that any Native Americans who show up to look for Remmick will be telling lies about Remmick. When these officials show up at the farm, Joan answers the door and denies seeing Remmick. As already revealed in a “Sinners” trailer, Remmick is really a vampire. And you can easily guess what he does to Bert and Joan.

Remmick is on the hunt for musicians with special talent that he’s heard about, which is why Remmick goes looking for Sammie. Remmick takes Joan and Bert with him when they go to the juke joint and try to gain access by posing as a musical trio. On a deeper level, Remmick, Joan and Bert represent vampires in the music industry who deceive artists by promising them fame and fortune only to exploit and cheat the artists. This has been especially true for black artists because “Sinners” always has race and racism as part of the story’s fabric.

“Sinners” has a stunning musical sequence at the juke joint that weaves together music performed by black artists in the 1930s with subsequent decades. It’s a very artistic homage to blues, funk and hip-hop (including having characters made to look similar to Bootsy Collins and LL Cool J) that is one of the highlights of the film.

Traditional vampire lore is a big part of “Sinners.” Several parts of the movie hinge on these well-known vampire “rules”: Vampires cannot enter a building without being invited by the owner or caretaker of the building. A vampire can be injured by holy water. A vampire can be killed by a stake to the heart or by being exposed to daylight sun.

Jordan does a noteworthy job in his dual performance as Stack and Smoke, although “Sinners” is the type of ensemble film where there are no bad performances. Mosaku also stands out as the strong but emotionally wounded Annie, who is in many ways the soul of the story. Lindo and Miller show excellent comedic timing for their “Sinners” characters, who have the funniest moments in the film. O’Connell makes Remmick a memorable villain. Li is a scene stealer as Grace, who proves to be a powerhouse fighter when the going gets tough.

Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson (who has worked on all of Coogler’s movies so far) crafted a gripping and suspenseful score for “Sinners,” a movie that sometimes wanders but is consistently compelling. Also worth noting is Oscar-winning production designer Hannah Beachler’s excellent production design for “Sinners.” As for surprises, the movie has a mid-credits scene and an end-credits scene that are treats for people who love and appreciate blues music. (The mid-credits scene is essential to watch.) “Sinners” is destined to be a horror classic and is sue to inspire repeat viewings.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Sinners” in U.S. cinemas on April 18, 2025.

Review: ‘Alice, Darling,’ starring Anna Kendrick, Kaniehtiio Horn, Charlie Carrick and Wunmi Mosaku

January 13, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Alice, Darling”

Directed by Mary Nighy

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York state, the dramatic film “Alice, Darling” features a predominantly white cast of people (with one black person and one Native American) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A woman who’s in an emotionally abusive relationship with a boyfriend comes to terms with the relationship when she goes on a secretive getaway vacation with her two closest female friends.

Culture Audience: “Alice, Darling” will appeal primarily to people interested in watching psychological dramas about people in troubled relationships.

Wunmi Mosaku, Anna Kendrick and Kaniehtiio Horn in “Alice, Darling” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

“Alice, Darling” is a mostly compelling and realistic portrayal of the dysfunction and denial of being trapped in an emotional abusive relationship. Viewers should not expect much of a plot to this drama, which mostly presents a well-acted psychological portrait of how emotional abuse affects not only the target of the abuse but also the people closed to the abused person. The movie also offers incisive observations about how people can struggle with handling abuse that is not physical or not illegal. “Alice, Darling” had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

Directed by Mary Nighy and written by Alanna Francis, “Alice, Darling” begins by showing protagonist Alice (played by Anna Kendrick) seeming to be in an ideal, loving relationship with her live-in boyfriend Simon (played by Charlie Carrick), who is a painter artist. Alice is in her early-to-mid-30s, while Simon is 37. They both live in New York City. (“Alice, Darling” was actually filmed in Canada.)

It’s never stated what Alice does for a living. The only detail given in the movie is that she works for a company where she sometimes has to travel for business meetings. At one point in the movie, Simon tells Alice that he thinks that her job is beneath her and that she could do better than the job she currently has. But is Simon being helpful or hurtful with this criticism? The cracks eventually begin to show in their relationship.

Early on in the movie, Alice is shown meeting up with her two closest friends at a wine bar. Sophie (played by Wunmi Mosaku) is outgoing and sassy. Tess (played by Kaniehtiio Horn) is emotionally guarded and somewhat brooding. During their get-together, Sophie and Tess mildly tease Alice about their waiter (played by Ethan Mitchell) showing signs of being openly attracted to Alice.

Simon has asked Alice to invite Sophie and Tess to the opening of his most recent gallery exhibition. Even though Tess and Sophie said that they would both attend, only Sophie shows up. Alice is very upset by Tess not being there, but Sophie (who works at an unnamed non-profit group) tries to smooth things over, by saying that Tess sometimes “gets in her own head when she’s working.” It’s later revealed that Tess is an artist too, but she’s doing her work for free because it’s all the work she can get at the moment.

It’s eventually revealed that Tess does not like Simon at all, while Sophie is cordial with Simon and is trying to keep an open mind about him. Simon doesn’t care for Tess and Sophie, and he frequently tells Alice that she should end her friendships with them. Tess’ 30th birthday is coming up, so Sophie suggests that she, Tess and Alice celebrate by spending time at a cottage in upstate New York owned by Sophie’s parents, who will be out of town for a vacation.

Alice accepts the invitation, but she lies to Simon by saying that she’s going on a business trip. On the road trip to the cottage, the three pals stop at a convenience store, where Alice sees a missing person flyer for a young woman named Andrea Evans. This missing person case will affect Alice in ways she that she doesn’t expect.

While at the cottage, Alice is anxious and emotionally on edge, as Simon constantly calls her to check up on her. It reaches a point where Tess and Sophie take Alice’s phone away from Alice, who becomes increasingly agitated and paranoid that Simon will think she’s a horrible person for lying about where she was going on this trip. The rest of “Alice, Darling” shows what happens when Alice (as well as Tess and Sophie) can no longer ignore the problems in Alice’s relationship with Simon.

Several quick flashbacks of memories reveal what type of toxic relationship that Simon and Alice have. Simon seems to be a perfect gentleman in public, but he’s also deeply insecure and verbally abuses Alice in private. All of the cast members give realistic performances, but Kendrick has the most complicated role, and she handles it with admirable skill. The movie somewhat falters with a climactic scene that looks too staged. However, if anyone wants a better understanding of what emotional abuse looks like when it’s hiding in plain sight, “Alice, Darling” has a meaningful portrayal.

Lionsgate released “Alice, Darling” in Los Angeles on December 30, 2022. The movie’s release expands to more U.S. cinemas, exclusively at AMC Theatres, on January 20, 2023.

Review: ‘Call Jane,’ starring Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver

January 5, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Call Jane”

Directed by Phyllis Nagy

Culture Representation: Taking place in Chicago, from 1968 to 1973, the dramatic film “Call Jane” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A lawyer’s wife becomes involved with the Jane network, a group of mostly women who provided abortion services in the Chicago area when it was illegal at the time.

Culture Audience: “Call Jane” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of stars Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver, as well as people interested in dramatic movies about what life was like for middle-class women in the late 1960s to early 1970s, before the Roe v. Wade case in 1973 that gave federal legal protection for abortion in the United States.

Elizabeth Banks in “Call Jane” (Photo by Wilson Webb/Roadside Attractions)

“Call Jane,” a drama that takes place from 1968 to 1973, is both a look back into the past and a look into the present and future of anyone who cannot get access to a safe and legal abortion in the United States. When “Call Jane” had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in January of that year, abortion had federal legal protection in the U.S., ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade case in 1973. In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, with the court’s decision allowing individual states to determine their respective abortion laws.

“Call Jane” is told from the perspective of a fictional, middle-class woman who gets involved in the Jane network, an underground abortion network in Chicago, beginning in 1968, when she sought a illegal abortion for herself. Some of the comedic moments in “Call Jane” are awkwardly placed, and a few of the characters become dangerously close to being parodies. However, the movie is intriguing overall in portraying a pre-Roe v. Wade female perspective of abortion in the U.S.

Directed by Phyllis Nagy, “Call Jane” uses a lot of fact-based elements of the real-life Jane network and blends them into a story with fictional characters. The 2019 film “Ask for Jane” (written and directed by Rachel Carey) did the same thing, but “Call Jane” has a much higher caliber of talent in front of and behind the camera than “Ask for Jane.” Both films have flaws and are centered primarily on white, middle-class women, when the reality is that women of various demographics used the abortion services of the Jane network. However, “Call Jane” (written by Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi) is a better movie overall in every way and doesn’t look like a mediocre made-for-TV film in the way that “Ask for Jane” does.

In “Call Jane,” the main protagonist is Joy Griffin (played by Elizabeth Banks), a homemaker and wife of an attorney named Will (played by Chris Messina), who works in criminal justice. Joy and Will live in Chicago, and they have a teenage daughter named Charlotte (played by Grace Edwards), who’s about 13 or 14 years old. At the beginning of the movie, it’s 1968, and Joy is pregnant.

The movie’s opening scene shows Joy and Will are leaving a lawyers’ convention which has a police barricade outside because of anti-Vietnam War protestors outside. Joy sees police brutality against the protestors as she and Will drive off. He comments with some relief that Charlotte is too young to get involved in the anti-war, anti-establishment movement. Little does Will know that Joy will soon become involved in a “radical” movement of her own.

Joy thinks that she has an ideal life. She has a good and loving family. She helps her husband with his legal briefs. “Honey, you make me sound like Clarence Darrow,” Will says appreciatively.

One of Joy’s best friends is her neighbor Lana (played by Kate Mara), a widow whose daughter Erin (played by Bianca D’Ambrosio) is a friend of Charlotte’s. Lana identifies as a conservative Republican. It’s hinted that Joy is also a registered Republican, but Joy likes to think of herself as more open-minded and more liberal than most Republican mothers.

Things take a turn in Joy’s life one day, when she is dancing with Charlotte in the kitchen to a Velvet Underground song when Joy suddenly collapses. She’s rushed to a hospital, where she gets a grim diagnosis: Her pregancy is causing her to have cardiomyopathy (congestive heart failure), and the doctor says the only medical treatment to stop it would be to have an abortion.

However, in Chicago in 1968, abortion is legal only if it is approved by an authorized board of medical professionals. In Joy’s case, the decision is made by an all-male group of doctors. She’s told that she has a 50% chance of living if she does not terminate the pregnancy. The doctors vote unanimously to not approve the abortion.

Joy doesn’t get much help from Dr. Campbell (played by Joel Brady), her obstetrician/gynecologist, who tells her that another option to get a legal abortion would be for Joy to pretend that she’s suicidal. Dr. Campbell would then get notes from psychiatrists to approve the abortion. Dr. Campbell’s secretary has an even more dangerous suggestion: “Just fall down a staircase. It worked for me.” Fearing that she will die as a result of the pregnancy, a desperate Joy goes to a seedy abortion place in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood, but she backs out of the abortion, because she feels that the abortion will be botched by the unsavory people who are in charge.

Joy then finds out about the Jane network through flyers posted on a street. The flyers say, “Pregnant? Anxious? Get Help! Call Jane.” Joy calls the phone number on the flyer, and she discovers that the Jane network offers confidential and anonymous abortions. Because everything is illegal in this process, Joy sees firsthand that the paranoia and precautions involved in the Jane network are on the level of a well-coordinated spy network. People uses aliases and code names and are driven to secretive locations for the abortions.

Joy is terrified during her abortion, but after it’s over, she is surprised and relieved by the counseling and comfort that she receives from the women in the network. During her abortion experience, Joy meets several of the Jane network’s key players. They include strong-willed feminist leader Virginia (played by Sigourney Weaver), who founded the Jane network; outspoken Gwen (played by Wunmi Mosaku), who drove Joy to the abortion location; and compassionate Maeve (played by Evangeline Young), who is among the first women in the group to advocate for the Jane network to offer free abortions to women who can’t afford their price.

The only man who’s part of the network is an abortionist named Dean (played by Cory Michael Smith), who says he’s a doctor with training in obstetrics and gynecology. He is the person who performed the abortion on Joy. Dean’s bedside manner is often arrogant and abrupt to the women who are in his care, but the Jane network relies on him because none of the women in the group has medical training. Later in the story, Dean demands more money for his payment, so the women have to decide how much they need Dean to be a part of their group.

After talking to the members of the Jane network, Joy finds out how much help they need, and she decides to become a part of the network as a volunteer. Joy’s intention is to help other women, many of whom are even more desperate to have an abortion than Joy was. Joy keeps her Jane network activities a secret from everyone she knows who is not part of the network.

At first, Joy lies to Will by saying that she’s taking an art class, to explain her absences when she would usually be at home. When Will complains to Joy that she isn’t spending as much time at home like she used to do, Joy responds by saying, “I need to be with other people who think and do.” The trailer for “Call Jane” already revealed that Will finds out about Joy’s involvement in the Jane network. Will is concerned about Joy going to jail and worried about losing his attorney license if people discover that he knew about Joy’s illegal activities and did nothing about it.

“Call Jane” has some hokey “rah rah feminism” type of dialogue that sounds like made-for-TV slogans instead of realistic conversations. One thing that “Call Jane” does a much better job of portraying than “Ask for Jane” does is how the Jane network had a lot of in-fighting and disagreements among its members. One major point of contention was in how to decide who deserved to get free abortions. Virginia wants it to be a random selection from low-income women, while other Jane network members think the decision should be done on a case-by-case basis of who is the most in need.

The issues of race and socioeconomic class are also authentically discussed in “Call Jane.” Gwen, who is the only woman of color in the group, has to constantly remind the other Jane network members to think outside their privileged bubbles to have more empathy for people of different races and lower incomes who have worse abortion hardships than the average middle-class white woman. During a heated argument (in one of the movie’s best scenes), Gwen points out that African American women in the Chicago area are less likely to be able to afford a safe abortion and are more likely to die from botched abortions. Gwen calls it a form of “black genocide,” which Virginia scoffs at as a “batshit” concept.

As for Joy, she becomes friendly with Gwen, but it’s mostly a superficial relationship that doesn’t extend to Joy showing an interest in having Gwen in her life for the long haul. The movie has some racial stereotyping, by having Gwen show Joy how to smoke marijuana. It’s as if the movie is saying that out all the left-wing, progressive types that Joy is now hanging out with in the Jane network, the only black person in the group is the only person who needs to be singled out as a habitual pot smoker.

Joy’s main conflicts are with abrasive Dean, because she thinks he’s toxic to the group, and he doesn’t offer the compassionate care that she thinks the abortion patients deserve. In real life, the Jane network never had anyone die from the abortion services that the Jane network provided. It was important for the Jane network to also have a reputation for offering meaningful counseling to abortion patients, which is something most underground abortion groups didn’t do at the time. Joy eventually finds a way to deal with Dean, but the movie doesn’t do a good-enough job in convincing viewers that neophyte Joy comes up with this solution, and that other more-experienced people in the Jane network (even whip-smart leader Virginia) couldn’t think of it earlier.

If viewers are wondering if any of the characters in “Call Jane,” are based on real people, there are similarities to some of the real-life people in the Jane network. Joy is probably based in part on Judith Arcana (also known as Judy Pildes), a prominent Jane network member married to an attorney. Virginia is no doubt based on Heather Booth, who is credited with founding the Jane network. Gwen is most likely based on Marie Leaner, the most prominent African American member of the Jane network.

If people want to learn more about the Jane network by watching a movie, the best one is the 2022 HBO documentary “The Janes,” directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes. (Arcana, Booth and Leaner are all interviewed in “The Janes” documentary.) Not as comprehensive as “The Janes” but worth seeking out is the 1995 documentary “Jane: An Abortion Service” (directed by Kate Kirtz and Nell Lundy), which had a limited release in theaters and was originally televised on PBS.

All of the cast members in “Call Jane” are very good in their roles, with Weaver being an obvious standout because of her acting talent and because Virginia has the strongest personality. “Call Jane” would have benefited from telling viewers a little bit more about the lives of Virginia and Gwen, who are the two Jane network characters other than Joy who get the most screen time and dialogue. In many ways, Virginia and Gwen are much more interesting than Joy, who comes across as a little bland, although Banks does an admirable job with the way the character was written. The biggest failing in “Call Jane” is not showing enough diversity in the abortion patients who get some kind of focus in the movie, when this diversity of abortion patients existed in real life for the Jane network.

Nagy’s direction of “Call Jane” is solid but occasionally disjointed. For example, the movie veers off into a very clumsily depicted and rushed plot development about Joy becoming the target of a police investigation, led by an undercover cop named Detective Chilmark (played by John Magaro), in a very short section of the movie. “Call Jane” should have spent more time on this plot development to bring more tension to the story. Before this plot development, the most tension that Joy gets from the Jane network is arguing with Dean.

“Call Jane” doesn’t have enough of anything that can be considered special or extraordinary filmmaking. And it’s not a movie that is going to change people’s minds about whether abortion should be legal or illegal. However, for viewers looking for a dramatic version of female empowerment taking place in the early years of the American feminist movement, “Call Jane” is a worthy option.

Roadside Attractions released “Call Jane” in U.S. cinemas on October 28, 2022. The movie was released on digital and VOD on December 6, 2022. “Call Jane” was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 13, 2022.

Review: ‘His House,’ starring Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù and Wunmi Mosaku

January 28, 2021

by Carla Hay

“His House”

Directed by Remi Weekes

Some language in Sudanese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in England and in South Sudan, the horror flick “His House” features a predominantly black cast of characters (with some white and Latino people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A refugee husband and wife flee from war-torn South Sudan to England but find a different kind of horror in their new home.

Culture Audience: “His House” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in horror movies that are more about dark psychological issues and society oppressions than bloody gore.

Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù and Wunmi Mosaku in “His House” (Photo by Aidan Monaghan/Netflix)

At first, the horror movie “His House” might appear to be a standard horror flick about a haunted house. There’s the surface-level plot that is common in movies with haunted house movies : A married couple moves into a new home, which is plagued by spirits that cause terror. But “His House” (the feature-film debut of writer/director Remi Weekes) delves much deeper than just the protagonists’ usual dilemma about what to do about the ghosts. It’s also a blistering meditation on trauma, both self-inflicted and that which is imposed by society.

In the beginning of “His House,” married couple Bol Majur (played by Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù) and Rial Majur (played by Wunmi Mosaku) are shown fleeing their native South Sudan by boat with other war refugees. They land in an unnamed part of England, but are quickly detained by immigration authorities. Bol and Rial are told by a condescending immigration official Mark Essworth (played by Matt Smith) that they will be freed from detention under certain conditions. “This is bail … not citizenship,” Mark tells the couple.

In exchange for their freedom, Bol and Rial are placed in a run-down housing development, where they are assigned a nearly empty house that’s also in a state of disrepair. The U.K. government has also assigned jobs to Bol and Rial, as a condition for the couple not to be deported. Living in the house comes with strict government rules: No guests, no smoking and no candles.

Mark tells Bol and Rial that they should feel lucky because this house is much larger than what the government gives to an undocumented immigrant couple. Rial is immediately suspicious. “Why are we so special?” she asks Mark. He replies, “You must’ve hit the jackpot.”

Bol and Rial try to make the best of the situation by looking at this new chapter in their lives with a positive attitude. Rial comments, “We will be new here.” Bol adds, “Born again.” However, it’s hard to overlook that the one-bedroom house is such a dump. It’s dirty, the wallpaper and paint are peeling, and the house’s electrical connections don’t always seem to work properly.

During the couple’s first night in the house, it becomes immediately apparent that things aren’t quite right there. Bol hears the sound of someone humming and then rustling sounds. And then, a bat flies through a hole in the wall after he sees a vision of Rial on the floor.

The area around the house is desolate and bleak. The neighbors keep to themselves, and so do Bol and Rial. The movie gives a slight feeling of disorientation when Bol visits a barber and asks him if they’re in London. And the barber gives a strange answer: “Why not?”

As time goes on, Bol and then Rial start to see frightening visions of people in the house. Sometimes the people appear to be hiding between the walls, while other times the people appear in the same rooms. During one startling incident, Bol finds behind peeling wallpaper that there’s a long rope attached to seaweed. He then sees a blonde girl doll, which a mysterious hand then quickly grabs and pulls back into the abyss.

Bol and Rial are terrified to tell people what they’re seeing in the house, because they don’t want to risk looking like crazy immigrants. If they report the house as haunted, they could be even more at risk for being deported. And they can’t move from the house, as per government rules that Bol and Ral agreed to, in order to avoid being deported. The best that Bol and Rial can do is report that the house is experiencing electrical problems, with the hope that government officials who come to inspect can possibly find the root of the problem.

As part of their government-sanctioned asylum, Bol and Rial get medical checkups. During Rial’s visit with a doctor, she explains why she has unusual marks on her body: While in South Sudan, she marked herself with the signs of both warring tribes so that she wouldn’t get killed. The idea was to confuse any possible captors about which was her real tribe. Later in the story, it’s revealed that before fleeing to England, Rial watched her entire family in South Sudan get murdered during a brutal massacre.

The rest of “Our House” gradually uncovers more layers to the story, and the details won’t be revealed in this review. However, it’s enough to say that there’s a family curse and a dead daughter that have a lot do with why Bol and Rial might be haunted by the spirits who inhabit the house. And certain characters aren’t necessarily who they first appear to be.

“His House” also has the added depth of being an immigrant story of people who are in a foreign country that they both admire and fear. In movies about haunted houses, the people being plagued by these ghosts are usually there of their own free will and won’t move because they’ve got too much invested financially in staying in the house. “His House” flips that typical narrative by making it a movie about people essentially forced to live in a haunted house, on orders of a government. This immigrant couple was seeking freedom in another country, but the irony is that in this new country, this husband and wife have essentially held captive by a government which is controlling their lives.

The movie is also about how trauma can be its own kind of prison. At various points in the story, viewers are left to wonder what might be “real” and what might be a hallucination. And as the visions get more threatening and oppressive, Bo and Rial have different ways of handling everything. “His House” plays guessing games about who might be more mentally unbalanced: Bo or Rial?

“His House” writer/director Weekes brings a “slow burn” terror to the story that has enough scares to make it a genuine horror movie. The movie does not get bogged down in too much bloody gore, which is the direction that many other movies of this type might go. Even though the house is dilapidated, Weekes brings almost a stylish gloom to the atmosphere when the ghosts appear.

“His House” is also not a typical haunted house movie where, one by one, people get killed in the house, because the Majurs are very much isolated in their new home. Dìrísù and Mosaku turn in admirable performances, especially when more of this couple’s background is revealed. The movie’s acting is effective, but the story’s real impact comes from the lingering feeling that people can move to different places, but they can’t really escape from emotional baggage.

Netflix premiered “His House” on October 30, 2020.