The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is about home - the idea, the reality, the promise.
When the Victorian that suddenly vacant, there’s no hesitation. Jimmie moves with purpose to reclaim what is his. Relationships are resurrected, friendships are tested, relics are unearthed and turf battles are fought, all along the gentrified streets of San Francisco.
Jimmie’s obsession with his family home wouldn’t be possible without the help of his best friend and enabler, Mont (Jonathan Majors.) The relationship is not one we’re used to seeing between two straight men on-screen, and especially not between two straight black men. The intimacy is palpable - they share a room, they unabashedly share hopes and dreams, they ride tandem on Jimmie’s skateboard, they hug each other. It feels pure, like the kind of friendships children cultivate before inhibited, self-conscious adulthood sets in.
Each character interaction is intense and meaningful. Throughout the movie, we watch Jimmie and Mont navigate relationships. Along the way, we meet Jimmie’s dad (difficult, cunning), and Jimmie’s mom (an apparition), Jimmie’s aunt (forced out of the city by gentrification and gatekeeper of familial relics), Mont’s blind grandpa (loving and wise.)
Haunting the sidewalk outside of Mont’s grandpa’s house, the neighborhood clique spend their time flexing on and clowning on Jimmie, Mont and each other.
If the house is the heart of the movie, the relationships are the soul, and each scene an invitation to soul search.
The “Last Black Man in San Francisco” moves with ease, distracts with details, and blinds with beauty. There’s a feeling that not much has happened, when in reality, so much has. It’s like moving through a dream, one that sails from suburb to city, from future to past, across generations, cultural divides, and stereotypes towards an inevitable collision.
In the end, it leaves you asking: what is home, and who has the right to call it that?
Directed by Joe Talbot, starring Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, and Danny Glover, winner of Sundance Directing Award and U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award. Catch the movie when it lands at a theater near you on June 21st.