The Last Black Man in San Francisco A24 Has Delivered a Wonderful Tale Yet Again Grade: B+

Source: IMDB

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is about Jimmie Fails (Jimmie Fails) living in glorious San Francisco. Jimmie time to time visits this wealthy big house near the city, claiming the house was built by his grandfather in the 1940's during/after World War 2. The owners of the house don't care for Jimmie's visits, as he tends to fix up the place by taking care of the garden or repaint the house. The owners of the house have recently lost someone in their lives, so they moved away as it remains empty with no one there. Jimmie decides to move in his beloved dream house with his best friend Montgomery (Jonathan Majors), as they plan do many fun things in the house. The Cinematography was outstanding, truly captures the beauty and the flaws of San Fran perfectly. Lovely shots of the house, details inside the house, loved the clean and dirty water shots, could go on and on about the many wonderful shots this film had, it's a film you could absolutely watch without the sound on. The Score was great, I enjoyed majority of the music played in this film, I love the San Francisco song sung by a fellow resident in San Fran. The cast was really good, I enjoyed every cast member in this film, well assembled cast put together. Jimmie Fails playing I guess himself was really good, I enjoyed his performance and the character himself, as you can tell it was very personal, keep in mind he did co wrote the script as well. I think some of us have related to Jimmie in the past, as far as not letting go of a house/place that felt like home to us. Jimmie's relentless effort in trying to keep himself involved in a house, in which he used to lived/owned felt very heart warming and personal to me. Some of us can look at him and go "Oh it's just a house, who cares" but the house and where the house was placed in meant the world to Jimmie. It actually felt like home to Jimmie as everywhere else either didn't feel like home or he just didn't feel comfortable enough to stay in. The character was a reminder that one of our toughest challenges in life is saying goodbye, to the place where we love and forever be home in our hearts, his character had a great emotional arc. Jonathan Majors playing Jimmie's best friend Montgomery was great, in fact I believe he should be considered an Oscar nominated candidate. There's this scene in the third act, that is instantly an Oscar bait clip... But Majors in this scene is just fantastic, like he was pretty good in the entire film, but when that scene hit... Sheesh WOWZERS. I can relate to a character like Montgomery, kind quiet and soft spoken out in public, but when it comes to something I'm passionate about, everyone is instantly stunned as they see a whole new person. There's some really good small performances in this film: Danny Glover, Mike Epps, and especially Tichina Arnold, all were wonderful in this film. So I do have a few flaws for this film. So early on Jimmie and Montgomery have jobs, one being a care taker the other being a fish market butcher... Uhm we don't see the boys at their jobs ever again. I felt that should've been consistent with that, I feel you could do a lot of interesting scenes involving those two at their jobs, every day is different ya know? So this was a pet peeve of mine: How come the realtors, never thought of once, that they should lock and chain up the front gates so no trespassers come in?! Like Jimmie said, "My grandfather built this tall gate, so nobody can jump over the house" so why is the gate wide open?! You know how easy it is to go trespass inside a giant house, with no security cameras?! It's a small thing but it just bugged me the entire time, you're annoyed with Jimmie and his best friend going inside the house, why not be normal and chain/lock up the front gate?! Jimmie calls the realtor a traitor, for putting the house up for sale, you can argue against my claim as I don’t mind, but I didn't get why Jimmie called him a traitor for. He never promised you the house was yours, he was actually super nice to you, so how can you call him a traitor?! A24 brings us the best of ourselves each and every summer just about, I thought this film was an enjoyably wonderful film. The entire film I felt happy, a great amount of detail to admire, as well as a well written story being told, it was a lovely time. Like I said earlier with Jimmie: That's pretty much the entire point of the film just about. You can also tie in with that theme, as you can add it's also about pride. Jimmie loved the house, despite he wasn't rich, even when the house wasn't his he took great care of it. While as the owners of the house, they just let things go, let things ware out and rot. Of course I'm not saying Jimmie deserved that house more than the owners, whom worked hard for their fortune, I'm just saying... Like common things in the world, some people whom have so much, aren't truly grateful for what they have in life, compared to those whom have little, but would do anything to be in their position. I see it all the time, it feels unfair because people would die to be in their position but didn't have education or fair opportunity like others do. There some clever dialogue in the third act, where it makes you think deeply about what the characters are trying to say, despite it not being clear. Especially Jimmie calmly telling two gals off, about their hatred for the city, the scene felt special and touching. This film is actually funny, wasn't expecting some laugh out moments, including a bus stop scene which was flat out hilarious. I feel those whom are into and whom are not into artsy films are going appreciate this film, you can relate towards the story is displaying on screen, it feels like a personal touching tale as the audience is going to gain something out of this wonderful tale. Overall, The Last Black Man in San Francisco was a pretty good film. I recommend this film, if you can see this in a theater, trust me you'll thank me later as it's truly necessary on the big screen. -Mitch Smietana