The Review: The Last Black Man In San Francisco

The Last Black Man In San Francisco 9/10

Its almost the end of the year and I am trying to watch as many more movies as I can before the end of the year and Cam and I do our yearly Chocket Awards. A few years back I had already made my lists and everything and then a week later saw like two more movies that would've easily made my lists of favorites. This movie, The Last Black Man In San Francisco, is one of those movies. I had heard of it but knew nothing about it. This movie felt like a play and I mean that in a good way because I love going to plays and saw four this year. This is about a guy named Jimmie who hangs out with his friend Montgomery around San Francisco. They do pretty much the same thing every day including being harassed by the same group of guys. They bus it to this old house that was owned by his grandfather that is now occupied by an older couple. Jimmie just shows up and starts painting the house and making changes. The couple don't want it but he still shows up. One day he finds out that the couple have left and he and Mont just move on in. 

I'm gonna stop right there. This movie is about so much. Its about friendship. Family. Lies. Tales. Gentrification. History. And from the start I was like “This movie looks beautiful!” Over the last few years I have heard more and more talk about lighting Black people in cinema properly and the co-writer/director Joe Talbot did an incredible job. The music was so good! The acting in this felt real like the friendship between Jimmie and Mont. There were some things I related to watching this that made me go “Damn, I should write more of this shit down.” Things like not being a hard acting dude but being surrounded by hard acting dudes. Not being close with parents. This isn't a movie that shows these guys as children and wraps everything up cleanly. It is two hours long and I took a break at pretty much the half hour point. Hey. Like a play, I said! Check this movie out. I want more people to see this movie.

Jimmie Fails as Jimmie Fails

Jonathan Majors as Montgomery "Mont" Allen

Danny Glover as Grandpa Allen

Tichina Arnold as Wanda Fails

Rob Morgan as James Sr.

Mike Epps as Bobby

Finn Wittrock as Clayton Newsom

Isiain Lalime as Gunna

Jamal Trulove as Kofi

Jordan Gomes as Jordan

Maximilienne Ewalt as Mary

San Quinn as Grown Ass Man

Daewon Song as Uncle Ricky

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