The Last Black Man in San Francisco

— This is a gorgeous film with exquisitely composed and richly layered images. Instead of an in-your-face approach, this is almost a luxurious homage to a city that's constantly evolving, sometimes renewing and rebuilding and other times deteriorating. On the surface, it’s the story of best friends Jimmie and Mont. Jimmie is forever painting windows and taking care of exterior maintenance on a grand Victorian home in the Fillmore District that his grandfather was said to have built in 1946, even though his family lost the house at least twenty years earlier and an elderly couple lives there now and keeps trying to shoo him away. When the couple gets evicted, Jimmie sees it as an opportunity to reclaim his family home and he and Mont move in. Even as they’re moving in, viewers know it can’t last, but it's worth it for the warmth and complexity of Jimmie and Mort’s friendship, the contrasts inherent in the city, and the ever-present question of how our past defines us and if the past we thought was ours ends up to be something different, are we different? Despite an ending that was a little awkward, the film is well worth seeing and a good look at friendship and belonging, as well as urban evolution. The camerawork and sound are also deserving of praise.

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[2019. 121 min. Directed by Joe Talbot. Starring Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, and Danny Glover.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-last-black-man-in-san-francisco-2019