Sinners (2025)

From guest contributor Li Lai - originally posted on Medium and Mediaversity Reviews.

2025 has just about wrapped, so we’re taking this time to celebrate the most inclusive films that came out this year. For folks new to our publication, a quick rundown: We score movies based on metrics for gender parity and racial diversity, taking into account the representation of LGBTQ people, adults over 60, disabilities, religions, and body diversity. (See our full methodologyhere.)

Our top picks are by no means exhaustive, and great films we didn’t get a chance to review, such as Ponyboi, K-Pop Demon Hunters, and Bob Trevino Likes It, would probably be on this list. Additionally, we only include movies that are in theaters or streaming to keep things accessible for our readers. But that means that several indie films, which disappeared after brief theatrical runs (Cree film Meadowlarks (movie) and trans documentary Heightened Scrutiny (movie), for example) weren’t eligible. These smaller films champion fresh voices, and it’s unfortunate that streaming platforms aren’t making them widely available.

It’s a symptom of Hollywood’s broader and disheartening shift away from inclusive storytelling. But even with movies gettingwhiterandstraighter, stories that reflect reality are out there. Filmmakers and actors are still putting in the work, day after day, to get different perspectives on screen. That’s why—more than ever—we’re still here to celebrate Mediaversity’s Top 10 Most Diverse Films of the year.

Blues music began by Black folks in the Mississippi Delta. And, depending on who you ask, it was either born from jazz, slavery, or while waiting on a train. It was shaped by the weight of the fields and the shadow of Jim Crow. In its sound went work songs, spirituals, hollers, and the silent grief. In the world of the blues, music was a sanctuary and something to lean on when the law, land, and times delivered less than little comfort.

From this environment emerged the legend of the "Crossroads." Most of us know the tale famously tied to Robert Johnson about talent paid for with a heavy price. Whether these narratives are taken literally or not, the common theme they express is the reality that created the blues: Nothing comes without sacrifice. When films go to "crossroads," they try to tell the history of the blues through the ideas and experiences of the people who created it.

Sinners takes that history and grounds its story in the lived experiences, fears, and hopes of the Black communities that shaped the Delta region. The 1986 film Crossroads, by stark contrast, tries to draw from those same traditions, but it ultimately treats its historic culture simply as folklore.

The blues in Crossroads is just a setting for another story that focuses on the “Karate Kid” Ralph Macchio at the height of his career. And it strays far from the culture that created the music. The two together reveal something about how film can either honor a legacy with clarity or turn it into something that’s easier, safer, and a lot less closely associated with the people responsible for bringing the blues into the world.