Year of Release: 2019
Director: Joe Talbot
Starring: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Danny Glover, Tichina Arnold, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock, Willie Hen, Jamal Trulove, Antoine Redus
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review:
After directing a short, "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" is director Joe Talbot's feature length debut. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival of 2019 to great reviews, and finally went into wide release in the Summer of 2019. It follows the story of two friends, Jimmie and Monty. They live with Monty's grandfather, in the outskirts of the San Francisco Bay area. Every day, they go to the city on the bus, in oder to work/restore a house that Jimmie believes has been built by his grandfather in the 1940s. The current owners of the house have unsuccessfully tried to dissuade them from coming back, but Jimmie persists, and secretly hopes he can live there once again. When the original owner of the house dies, their family goes into a tugging war over the ownership of the house/estate, causing a lull in the occupation of the house, something that Jimmie and Monty seize as an opportunity to move in. The realtor who has taken over the house, however realizes what they've done, and takes everything out. Unfazed by these events, Jimmie keeps persisting in his aspirations to own the house, even as the truth behind some events come to the surface, shaking the foundations of what he believed to be true.
"The Last Black Man in San Francisco" is a really interesting observation of someone's familial relationships, but also, a lucid statement on the life in the San Francisco Bay Area, from the point of view from someone who has lived there, but has been pushed out due to the evolution of the city (and the costs of living there). The film also manages to illustrate this brotherly relationship between the two lead characters, showcasing Monty's multi-hyphenate artistic capabilities (both as a sketcher and as a writer), and also Jimmie's quest to fulfill his dream, of once again living in the house his grandfather built, and ultimately, something that reminds him of what a family unit actually is. In between these lead characters relationship, there's a somewhat superficial observation (more in the background) of social tension between gangs, and even what can be ruled "toxic masculine behavior or expectations". The film for the most part is engaging, beautifully shot and acted, however the unfolding of the narrative in its last chapter, is also its weakest. The writers somewhat fail to showcase the crushing effects of certain actions, and the film lacks a punch that initially was so well thrown. It's still a solid reflection on a series of relevant topics, beautifully shot by Adam Newport-Berra. Worth watching.
"The Last Black Man in San Francisco" is a really interesting observation of someone's familial relationships, but also, a lucid statement on the life in the San Francisco Bay Area, from the point of view from someone who has lived there, but has been pushed out due to the evolution of the city (and the costs of living there). The film also manages to illustrate this brotherly relationship between the two lead characters, showcasing Monty's multi-hyphenate artistic capabilities (both as a sketcher and as a writer), and also Jimmie's quest to fulfill his dream, of once again living in the house his grandfather built, and ultimately, something that reminds him of what a family unit actually is. In between these lead characters relationship, there's a somewhat superficial observation (more in the background) of social tension between gangs, and even what can be ruled "toxic masculine behavior or expectations". The film for the most part is engaging, beautifully shot and acted, however the unfolding of the narrative in its last chapter, is also its weakest. The writers somewhat fail to showcase the crushing effects of certain actions, and the film lacks a punch that initially was so well thrown. It's still a solid reflection on a series of relevant topics, beautifully shot by Adam Newport-Berra. Worth watching.
0 comments:
Post a Comment