''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' is a 2019 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed and produced by
Joe Talbot
Joseph Lyle Talbot (born July 11, 1990) is an American filmmaker. His debut feature film, ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019), which he co-wrote and directed, won the Best Director prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The film i ...
in his directorial debut. He wrote the screenplay with Rob Richert and the story with
Jimmie Fails, on whose life it is partly based.
It stars Fails,
Jonathan Majors
Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...
,
Tichina Arnold
Tichina Rolanda Arnold (; born June 28, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a child actor, appearing in supporting roles in ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986) and '' How I Got into College'' (1989) before being cast a ...
,
Rob Morgan,
Mike Epps
Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and ''The Hangover Part III'' as "Bla ...
,
Finn Wittrock
Peter L. Wittrock Jr. (born October 28, 1984), known as Finn Wittrock, is an US actor and screenwriter who began his career in guest roles on several television shows. He made his film debut in 2004, in ''Halloweentown High'' before returning to f ...
and
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
.
It premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 26, 2019, where it won awards for Best Directing and a Special Jury Prize for Creative Collaboration. It was released in the United States on June 7, 2019, by
A24
A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City.
A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
.
Plot
Jimmie Fails is a young man living in
Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco. He spends his time wandering around town with his best friend Mont Allen, with whom he lives, along with Mont's grandfather. Jimmie waits for the bus with Mont every day, during which they see various states of change in the city and protesters trying to stop it. They skateboard to a
Victorian house
In Great Britain and former British colonies, a Victorian house generally means any house built during the reign of Queen Victoria. During the Industrial Revolution, successive housing booms resulted in the building of many millions of Victorian ...
in the city's
Fillmore District
The Fillmore District is a historical neighborhood in San Francisco located to the southwest of Nob Hill, west of Market Street and north of the Mission District.Oaks, Robert F. San Francisco's Fillmore District. lectronic resource n.p.: Charles ...
where Jimmie grew up. Jimmie says it was built by his grandfather in 1946, who opted to build on an empty lot rather than buy one of the houses made available due to the wartime
internment of Japanese Americans
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
. The home is currently occupied by an older white couple. Jimmie often laments to Mont about how they don't take care of the house, and does his best to maintain it himself. One day, Jimmie and Mont visit the house to find the woman crying on her husband's shoulder and movers taking the couple's things away. They learn from a mover that the woman's mother died and that she and her sister are now fighting over the house.
Jimmie and Mont visit a Realtor to inquire about the home. The Realtor is not aware of the current situation, but is very familiar with the house. He tells them it "sounds like an estate thing" in which case the home might stay empty for years until the inheritance is settled. Jimmie and Mont use this opportunity to visit the now-vacant house, exploring it in its entirety. Deciding to take up residence there, they visit Jimmie's aunt Wanda, who gives them the furniture she and the family had when they lived there. With the help of Wanda's husband Ricky, they take everything back to the house and move it in.
One night, Mont invites Kofi, a childhood friend of Jimmie's and his, to the house, and they enjoy a night of relaxation. However, the next day, Kofi says hurtful things to Jimmie about his father in order to appear dominant after being called "effeminate" by his friends. Jimmie and Mont later learn from Kofi's friends that Kofi has been killed by a man with whom he had a scuffle. On returning to the house, they find that their possessions have been thrown out onto the sidewalk, and find a For Sale sign posted by Clayton Newsom, the Realtor they'd visited. Feeling betrayed, Jimmie retaliates by taking all the furniture back inside. He also visits a bank in an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the home. Mont, however, goes back to Newsom, who reveals that the house wasn't built by Jimmie's grandfather; he has the deed proving that it was actually built in the 1850s.
Mont writes a play about the aftermath of Kofi's death, and Jimmie advertises that it will be performed in the house's uppermost tower. On the day of the performance, Jimmie's estranged father appears. During the performance, Mont shows social media posts about Kofi's death, all of which prove, he proclaims, that these people never really knew Kofi. He asks people in the crowd to recount their opinions of Kofi, including Jimmie. Jimmie says that even though the last things Kofi said to him were mean, his experience with him in a group home was friendly, and says, "People aren't one thing". Mont then confronts Jimmie with the truth that Jimmie's grandfather did not build the house. This angers Jimmie, who storms out, followed by the rest of the audience.
Jimmie reunites with Mont at the dock, admitting that he'd known all along that his grandfather hadn't built the house. He watches TV with Mont and Grandpa Allen before going to bed. Mont wakes up and finds Jimmie gone, with a note saying he "didn't know how to say goodbye" and thanking Mont for being his best friend. Mont is left alone, and while he continues various activities that the two always shared, they no longer bring him the same joy when done alone. He stands alone on the dock, staring into the distance. Jimmie is far away, rowing in the water outside the
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...
.
Cast
Production
Talbot and Fails grew up together in San Francisco and first discussed the possibility of making the movie as teenagers. However, they found it difficult to make the film in the City due to the lack of a film scene within the region and neither of them had any proper film training nor knew anybody within the industry.
Talbot got some initial advice on how to start from a cold email to
Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film '' Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Inde ...
, who shot ''
Medicine for Melancholy
''Medicine for Melancholy'' is a 2008 independent romantic drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins. The film stars Wyatt Cenac, Tracey Heggins, and Elizabeth Acker.
The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 7, 200 ...
'' (2008) in San Francisco, before he left to shoot
''Moonlight'' (2016).
In May 2015, the two shot a preview trailer to raise funds for the making of the film and launched a successful
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign that ultimately surpassed their goal of $50,000 by more than $25,000.
Within a month, 1,500 contributors backed the campaign totaling a little over $75,000. The campaign garnered film industry interest as well as national press, and through viral success cemented Fails, who was the face of the #lastblackman fundraising campaign, as a local San Francisco figure.
When Fails and Talbot's short film, ''American Paradise'', made it to
2017 Sundance Film Festival
The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016.
Awards
The following awards were presented:
* Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – ''I Don't Feel at ...
, they met Christina Oh of
Plan B Entertainment
Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November in 2001 by Brad Grey, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Kristin Hahn. In 2005, after Pitt and Aniston divorced, Grey became the CEO o ...
, who later made introductions for Talbot and producer, Khaliah Neal, to the rest of the company at a shooting for
''Ad Astra'' (2019).
Jeremy Kleiner
Jeremy Kleiner (born 1976/1977) is an American film producer. He and his fellow producers won two Academy Awards for Best Picture for the 2013 film ''12 Years a Slave'' and the 2016 film '' Moonlight''.
Biography
Kleiner was born to a Jewish f ...
, of Plan B, helped pick up the film for production.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in April 2018.
In May 2018, it was officially announced that
Jonathan Majors
Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...
,
Danny Glover
Danny Lebern Glover (; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, film director, and political activist. He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film series. He also had leading roles in his films include ...
,
Tichina Arnold
Tichina Rolanda Arnold (; born June 28, 1969) is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a child actor, appearing in supporting roles in ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986) and '' How I Got into College'' (1989) before being cast a ...
,
Rob Morgan,
Mike Epps
Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and ''The Hangover Part III'' as "Bla ...
,
Finn Wittrock
Peter L. Wittrock Jr. (born October 28, 1984), known as Finn Wittrock, is an US actor and screenwriter who began his career in guest roles on several television shows. He made his film debut in 2004, in ''Halloweentown High'' before returning to f ...
, and
Thora Birch
Thora Birch (born March 11, 1982) is an American actress and producer. She made her feature film debut in 1988 with a starring role in ''Purple People Eater'', for which she received a Young Artist Award for "Best Young Actress Under Nine Years ...
had joined the cast of the film, with Khaliah Neal producing the film alongside Plan B Entertainment and
A24
A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City.
A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
distributing.
The creative team had wanted to cast someone from San Francisco in the role of Kofi, the childhood friend who struggles to be vulnerable with his peers.
They met Jamal Trulove at an after-school program in San Francisco while casting for child extras.
Trulove was previously falsely charged with murdering his friend in 2007. He was granted a retrial in 2015 and was subsequently acquitted. The
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco.
Government and politics
The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...
later approved a $13.1 million settlement to him for being framed for murder by the police. Given his background and personal resonance for the role, Trulove was cast on the spot that day.
One of the filming locations was
Shipwright's Cottage.
Constant demolitions and alterations of San Francisco sites complicated the film production. Talbot is cognizant of the geographical inaccuracies of the film, likening it to ''
Bullitt
''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Philip D'Antoni. The picture stars Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset. The screenplay by Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleine ...
'' (1968) which was also filmed in San Francisco.
The film was heavily influenced by the 2001 film ''
Ghost World'', also about two outsider friends who don't fit in to their cities and wander throughout, which Talbot was introduced to at age 15. As an homage to that film, Talbot asked actress
Thora Birch
Thora Birch (born March 11, 1982) is an American actress and producer. She made her feature film debut in 1988 with a starring role in ''Purple People Eater'', for which she received a Young Artist Award for "Best Young Actress Under Nine Years ...
to appear in a cameo, and notes the connection between her character of Enid and that of Jimmie: "“I always felt her character and Jimmy are similar in a lot of ways, and she got that immediately,” Talbot said. “She and I would joke like, at the end of ''Ghost World'' when she gets on the bus, it’s like she never got off the bus and wound up in San Francisco working a tech job she hates.” Talbot also discussed the connection further: "Thora is one of the great actresses of her generation and her work, in part, inspired me to want to make films. Her performance in Ghost World made me feel seen as a teenager when I was a bit lost,” Talbot explained. “At the end of that film, Thora rides a bus off into the sunset. In our film, we meet her character on a bus in the heart of San Francisco—almost as if she kept riding it all these years, and somehow wound up in the Bay Area working a tech job she loathed. Her exchange that follows with Jimmie, however brief, has been written about and quoted more than any other part of the film.”
Release
The film had its world premiere at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 26, 2019. It released in the United States on June 7, 2019, having previously been scheduled to be released on June 14.
Reception
Critical response
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "An affecting story powerfully told, ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' immediately establishes director Joe Talbot as a filmmaker to watch." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
In her ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' review,
Manohla Dargis
Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Career
Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', ...
made the film a NYT Critics Pick and called it "ravishing, haunting and exultant." The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''s
Justin Chang
Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''.
Early life
Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...
called the film "a gorgeous, moving ode to a city in flux." ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
''s
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...
said it was "by far the best narrative film I saw
t Sundance . . . Every scene is fresh and unpredictable, visual poetry and realism are exquisitely woven together." ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' called it "the best movie of the year" as of June 2019, and ''
Deadline Hollywood
''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...
''s awards columnist Pete Hammond said that it was "the one movie I have seen that should have Oscar written all over it" as of July.
''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''
's
Richard Brody
Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999.
Education
Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He firs ...
said that the film was disappointing and lacked "grit or texture of real experience."
Accolades
Year-end lists
''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' appeared on many critics' lists of the best films of 2019, including:
* (top 10, unranked) -
Nell Minow
Nell Minow is an American film reviewer and writer who writes and speaks frequently on film, media, and corporate governance and investing. Ms. Minow was named one of the 20 most influential people in corporate governance by Directorship magazine ...
, ''
RogerEbert.com''
* 1st - Odie Henderson, ''RogerEbert.com''
* 2nd - Nick Allen, ''RogerEbert.com''
* 4th -
Carlos Aguilar
Carlos Aguilar (born May 25, 1988) is an American soccer player who is currently an assistant coach at San Diego State University.
Career
College and amateur
Carlos attended Palmdale High School played two years of college soccer at Taft Coll ...
, ''RogerEbert.com''
* 7th - Tasha Robinson, ''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
''
* 8th - Seongyong Cho, ''RogerEbert.com''
* 9th -
Michael Phillips, ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
''
* 10th - Robert Daniels, ''RogerEbert.com''
* 10th -
Manohla Dargis
Manohla June Dargis () is an American film critic. She is one of the chief film critics for ''The New York Times''. She is a five-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Career
Before being a film critic for ''The New York Times'', ...
, ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
* 10th -
Christy Lemire, ''RogerEbert.com''
* 13th - Karen Han, ''Polygon''
* 13th - Adam Kempenaar, ''
Filmspotting
''Filmspotting'' is a weekly film podcast and radio program from Chicago hosted by Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen. The show originally began as a progression from Kempenaar's film blog ''Cinemascoped''. He and his friend, Sam Van Hallgren (then S ...
''
* 16th - Josh Larsen, ''Filmspotting''
* 22nd -
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
critics' poll
* Honorable mention -
Justin Chang
Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''.
Early life
Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...
, ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''
[Justin Chang]
"Justin Chang’s best movies of 2019: ‘Parasite,’ ‘Knives Out’ stand at the head of the class"
''Los Angeles Times'', December 6, 2019, retrieved January 19, 2019.
See also
*
List of black films of the 2010s
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
The Last Black Man in San Francisco' at
A24
A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City.
A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Black Man In San Francisco, The
2019 films
A24 (company) films
African-American drama films
Films set in San Francisco
Films shot in San Francisco
Gentrification in the United States
Housing in California
Kickstarter-funded films
Plan B Entertainment films
Sundance Film Festival award winners
2019 independent films
Works about gentrification
2010s buddy drama films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
Bayview–Hunters Point, San Francisco