Dir. Joe Talbot (trailer)
The semi-autobiographical The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a masterfully directed work of art centering on the daily exploits of Jimmie (played by screenwriter Jimmie Fails) and his friend Mont (Jonathan Majors) as they deal with gentrification of their hometown. Director Joe Talbot, making his directorial debut, crafts this film with love for the ever changing city of San Francisco while using interesting camera angles that help the audience forget they are watching a film.
The film opens in an almost science fiction world with a little girl watching as a man in a hazmat suit sprays a yellow chemical on the ground. As she watches on, we begin to hear a man wondering aloud "Why are they wearing suits and we're not?". He continues to preach about how the bay has been poisoned and the citizens are left to deal with it. Waiting at a bus stop are Jimmie and Mont, waiting for a bus that never shows. As they skateboard through San Francisco to an unknown location, the film begins to paint a picture of the city and what makes it so special.
Soon we find out that Jimmie is attached to the old Victorian home that his grandfather built and he painstakingly tries to keep it up to it's former glory while the current owners are out of the house. While finding out why he is so attached to this home, we begin to learn much more about Jimmie and his life growing up in San Francisco. Over the course of the film, the two friends travel around the city on their adventures, always revolving around Jimmie's grandfather's house. Mont watches as a group of men who frequently loiter around his house throw insults at each other and he tries to mimic the way they speak while also observing them for later use in a play.
The film also tackles many subjects including gentrification and toxic masculinity. As the characters discuss how they have been pushed out of the homes they grew up in so that millionaires and tech giants could move in, they also discuss how their families moved into San Francisco when the Japanese were taken to camps during World War II, showing that San Francisco has always continued to change and that someone was always there first. Toxic masculinity is also depicted by Jimmie having to change his appearance when he goes to visit his father who harshly criticizes his style and hobbies.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco is one of the most beautiful movies to come out in 2019 and hopefully director Joe Talbot and screenwriter Jimmie Fails go on to create more movies in the future, because their unique voices are greatly needed in cinema.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Recommended for fans of: indies, Moonlight (2016), A Ghost Story (2017), A24, The Farewell (2019), drama
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