The Last Black Man in San Francisco [2019] [Blu-ray + Digital] [USA Release] An Indelibly Beautiful Story! Overflows with Life and Love! The film is a gorgeous, moving ode to a city in flux!
After Jimmie Fails enlists his best friend Montgomery Allen [Jonathan Majors] to help reclaim the Victorian home his grandfather built in the heart of San Francisco, they begin a search for belonging in a rapidly changing city that seems to have left them behind. A wistful odyssey populated by skaters, squatters, street preachers, playwrights, and other locals on the margins, ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ is a poignant and sweeping story of hometowns and how they're made – and kept alive – by the people who love them.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2019 African-American Film Critics Association: Win: Best Independent Film. 2019 Boston Society of Film Critics’ Awards: Win: BSFC Award: Best New Filmmaker for Joe Talbot. 2019 Boston Society of Film Critics’ Awards: Nominated: BSFC Award: Best Original Score for Emile Mosseri. 2019 California on Location Awards: Nominated: COLA for Location Team of the Year for Independent Feature Film for Daniel Lee, Jessica Lee Malloure, Carlisle Silvestri and Christian Baba. 2019 Camerimage Awards: Nominated: Golden Frog Award for Main Competition for Adam Newport-Berra. 2019 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: Milos Stehlik Award for Most Promising Filmmaker for Joe Talbot. 2019 Discussing Film Critics Awards: Win: Jury Award for Best Original Score for Emile Mosseri. 2019 Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: DFCC Award for Best Cinematography for Adam Newport-Berra. 2019 Florida Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: FFCC Award for Best First Film. 2019 Gotham Awards: Nominated: Audience Award for Joe Talbot, Khaliah Neal, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Christina Oh. 2019 Gotham Awards: Nominated: Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award for Joe Talbot. 2019 Gotham Awards: Nominated: Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay for Jimmie Fails, Joe Talbot and Rob Richert. 2019 Gotham Awards: Nominated: Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor for Jonathan Majors. 2019 Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: GWNYFCA Award for Breakthrough Performance for Jimmie Fails. 2019 Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: GWNYFCA Award for Breakthrough Director for Joe Talbot. 2019 Indiana Film Journalists Association, USA: Nominated: IFJA Award for Breakout of the Year for Joe Talbot. 2019 International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA): Win: Halfway Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jonathan Majors. 2019 International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA): Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Actor for Jimmie Fails. 2019 International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA): Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Original Screenplay for Jimmie Fails, Joe Talbot and Rob Richert. 2019 International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA): Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Cinematography for Adam Newport-Berra. 2019 International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA): Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Production Design for Jona Tochet. 2019 International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA): Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Picture. 2019 International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA): Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Original Score for Emile Mosseri. 2019 Locarno International Film Festival: Nominated: Golden Leopard Award for Best Film for Joe Talbot. 2019 London Film Festival: Nominated: Sutherland Award for First Feature Competition for Joe Talbot. 2019 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Win: New Generation Award for Joe Talbot, Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors. 2019 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Independent Films. 2019 Odyssey Awards: Nominated: Odyssey Award for Breakthrough Director for Joe Talbot. 2019 Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards: Win: OFCC Award for Best First Film for Joe Talbot. 2019 Online Association of Female Film Critics: Nominated: OAFFC Award for Breakthrough Filmmaker for Joe Talbot. 2019 Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Awards: Win: Best Directorial Debut for Joe Talbot. 2019 San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle: Win: SFBAFCC Award for Best Original Score for Emile Mosseri. 2019 San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle: Nominated: SFBAFCC Award for Best Cinematography for Adam Newport-Berra. 2019 San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle: Nominated: SFBAFCC Award for Best Director for Joe Talbot. 2019 Seattle Film Critics Society: Nominated: SFCS Award for Best Original Score for Emile Mosseri. 2019 Sundance Film Festival: Win: Directing Award for Dramatic Film for Joe Talbot. 2019 Sundance Film Festival: Win: U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Collaboration for Joe Talbot. 2019 Sundance Film Festival: Nominated: Grand Jury Prize for Dramatic Film for Joe Talbot. 2019 Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards: Nominated: WAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jonathan Majors. 2019 Women Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: WFCC Award for Best Actor for Jimmie Fails. 2020 Austin Film Critics Association: Nominated: AFCA Award for Best First Film for Joe Talbot. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Independent Feature for Joe Talbot, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Christina Oh and Khaliah Neal. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for Jimmie Fails. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Jonathan Majors. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Score for Emile Mosseri. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Breakthrough in a Male Performance for Jimmie Fails. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Breakthrough in a Male Performance for Jonathan Majors. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Cinematography for Adam Newport-Berra. 2020 Black Reel Awards: Nominated: Black Reel Award for Outstanding Ensemble for Julia Kim. 2020 Casting Society of America, USA: Win: Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting for Low Budget Feature for Comedy or Drama for Julia Kim, Nina Henninger and Sarah Kliban. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Win: Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jonathan Majors. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Win: Chlotrudis Award for Best Cinematography for Adam Newport-Berra. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Nominated: Best Movie. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Nominated: Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Nominated: Best Director for Joe Talbot. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Nominated: Best Actor for Jimmie Fails. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Nominated: Best Production Design for Jona Tochet. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Nominated: Best Use of Music in a Film for Emile Mosseri. 2020 Chlotrudis Awards: Chlotrudis Award: Nominated: Best Original Screenplay for Joe Talbot, Jimmie Fails and Rob Richert. 2020 Columbus Film Critics Association: Win: COFCA Award for Best Overlooked Film. 2020 Columbus Film Critics Association: Nominated: COFCA Award for Breakthrough Film Artist for Joe Talbot. 2020 Directors Guild of America, USA: Nominated: DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film for Joe Talbot. 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards: Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for Jonathan Majors. 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards: Nominated: Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature for Joe Talbot, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Khaliah Neal and Christina Oh. 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards: Nominated: Someone to Watch Award for Joe Talbot. 2020 GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics: Nominated: Dorian Award for Unsung Film of the Year. 2020 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards: Win: GMS Award for Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under 5 Million Dollars for Terri D'Ambrosio. 2020 Houston Film Critics Society Awards: Nominated: HFCS Award for Best Poster Design. 2020 International Cinephile Society Awards: Nominated: ICS Award for Best Debut Feature for Joe Talbot. 2020 Location Managers Guild International Awards (LMGI): Win: LMGI Award for Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary Feature Film for Daniel Lee. 2020 Music City Film Critics' Association Awards: Nominated: MCFCA Award for Best Supporting Actor for Jonathan Majors. 2020 North Carolina Film Critics Association: Nominated: Tar Heel Award for Jonathan Majors. 2020 Online Film & Television Association: Nominated: OFTA Film Award for Best Breakthrough Performance: Male for Jonathan Majors. 2020 Online Film & Television Association: Nominated: OFTA Film Award for Best Feature Debut for Joe Talbot. 2020 Online Film & Television Association: Nominated: OFTA Film Award for Best Music and Adapted Song for John Phillips. 2020 Online Film Critics Society Awards: Nominated: OFCS Award for Best Debut for Joe Talbot. 2021 Americana Film Festival: Nominated: Tops Audience Award for Joe Talbot.
FILM FACT No.2: ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2019, where it won awards for Best Directing and a Special Jury Prize for Creative Collaboration, and was released in the United States on June 7, 2019, and having previously been scheduled to be released on June 14, 2019. 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 Joe Talbot was introduced to at the age of 15.
Cast: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Rob Morgan, Tichina Arnold, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock, Danny Glover, Willie Hen, Jamal Trulove, Antoine 'Milk' Redus, Isiain Lalime, Jordan Gomes, Maxamilliene Ewalt, Michael O'Brien, Daewon Song, Mari Kearney, Dennis Chavez, Dakecia Chappell, San Quinn, Jello Biafra, LaShay Starks, Warren Keith, David Usner, James Dowling, Sergio Gonzalez, Andy Roy, Tonya Glanz, Thora Birch, Tim 'Opera' Blevins, Mike Marshall, The Dog Musik, Kenny Beers (uncredited), Emily Chau (uncredited), Javier Chavarin (uncredited), Cooper Chow (uncredited), Sean Richard Conroy (uncredited), Steven J. Durham (uncredited), Scott Eberhardt (uncredited), Michael J. Gwynn (uncredited), Jake Hanson (uncredited), Cassie Hendry (uncredited), Travis Neal (uncredited), John Ozuna (uncredited), John Parsons (uncredited), Michael Andrew Reed (uncredited), Leah Shesky (uncredited) and Johnny Walkr Jr. (uncredited)
Director: Joe Talbot
Producers: Barry Jenkins, Brad Pitt, Christina Oh, Christopher Hernández, Da'Von Brown, Damien Newman, Damon Uyeda, David Bernon, Davi Ottenheimer, Dede Gardner, Jareau Wade, Jeffrey W. Montague, Jeremy Kleiner, Joe Talbot, Kabeer Aziz, Khaliah Neal, Kimberly Parker, Kimberly Ventre, Lisa Donato, Luis Alfonso De la Parra, Marcus Delano East, Mark Fox, Matt E. Novak, Maya E. Rudolph, Natalie Teter, Nikki Rattray Baldwin, Rebekah Olivera, Rob Richert, Rosa Gatti, S. Andrew Schwartz, Sarah Esberg, Sean Knox, Sydney Lowe and Yasmin Jeiroudi
Screenplay: Jimmie Fails (story), Joe Talbot (story/written), Rob Richert (written), Emma Nicholls (developed for the screen with the assistance), Fritzi Adelman (developed for the screen with the assistance) and Prentice Sanders (developed for the screen with the assistance)
Composer: Emile Mosseri
Costume Designer: Amanda Ramirez
Cinematography: Adam Newport-Berra (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH and Spanish
Running Time: 120 minutes
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: LIONSGATE / A24 / PLAN B / LONGSHOT / MAVIA
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ [2019] is an indelible story about friendship, home, and loss, confesses the faults and triumphs of a city and the love and loss of its people. Directed by Joe Talbot, the film is visually and emotionally nourishing, provoking an interesting post-movie discussion about the idea of home. What does home mean to different people? How does a person’s life influence their perspective on home?
The protagonist, Jimmie Fails seems to struggle with the very question of home, as the film explores his relationship with a house, his old family home, and ultimately the city of San Francisco. As the camera pans to the house, we recognise just how significant it is from its grandeur: it is tall, white, and ornate. More importantly, it stands as a physical token of Jimmie Fails history, family, and identity in a city that is changing.
The house in question is an old Victorian home in the Fillmore that Jimmie Fails believes – or wants to believe – was built by his grandfather in the 1940’s after World War Two. It’s an admirable story, one that confirms the house definitively belongs to Jimmie Fails. As he yells the tale from the balcony of the house, down at some bewildered tour guide and surprised tourists, the audience is quick to believe it as well. But the lie unravels itself with time, revealing that Jimmie’s family got the house as a result of the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two.
Jimmie Fails places so much of himself into this house that it becomes wrapped in his identity. He visits every day with his best friend Montgomery Allen [Jonathan Majors], he tends to the house by painting the facade, and when the opportunity arises, and Jimmie Fails and Montgomery Allen move in and live there. All that we know about Jimmie revolves around it: his childhood, his family history, and his desire to get back into his home. Jimmie Fails obsession collapses with the reality he already knows.
But why does Jimmie Fails tell himself this lie for so long? Growing up, he never had a stable home; he lived in a car and then a group home at some point in his youth. Still, these places or objects could embody the idea of home for him. In fact, the car is still being used and Jimmie takes a short ride with the man who stole it from him and his father. The group home, we assume, still operates as well. There is no desire for him to reclaim these places as his home, by either returning to them or reconciling with them. But the house in the Fillmore is different because it is changing, like much of San Francisco. Its appearance is changing, its purpose is changing, and its history is changing.
The gentrification of San Francisco has long been a conflict between different communities and classes in the city. This issue creates the complex undertones for the story, as we meet Jimmie’s family members who were pushed out of the city due to rising real estate prices. The film presents the effects of gentrification on the city and how it has driven out its own people, by discussing three separate occasions of displacement surrounding the house in the Fillmore. First, the Japanese-Americans during the war; then Jimmie’s family possibly in the 1990’s and finally, the baby-boomer couple in the present day. In the end, the house is used and abused by real estate agents to make a profit, who quickly forget that its true significance is in memory, not money.
Love and loss go together in this film about San Francisco. The fear of losing space and memory and the love for a changing city. Jimmie Fails cannot leave San Francisco since he’s “the only one left” – the last black man in San Francisco. Once he is gone, his history and all his memories will follow. The house is a physical representation of Jimmie Fails presence in the city, and if he loses the house, he loses himself. The consequences of gentrification in neighbourhoods like San Francisco are the erasure of its people.
Their superb performances match one another, swaying the film’s energy between Montgomery Allen’s idealistic understanding of daily life and Jimmie Fails pragmatism about the odds of their gambit actually being able to last. Fails is unsurprisingly exceptional given his relationship to the material, shaping the film’s overall tone as he goes along, portraying a kind of existential tour guide for a place that at once still stands, is being torn down every day, and never quite existed at all. At the centre of a film dealing equally in the true and the apocryphal, Fails embodies that ethos without sacrificing one to prioritize the other.
Stories fade and change and recede into the past. But in the view of ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco,’ they never entirely disappear, even if reduced to whispers and fables. Apartments and shops are built over them, but there they remain.
While some people find solace in each other and settle in these forced routines, Jimmie Fails never does. Despite his best efforts, he comes to realize that his true home is somewhere between a place he hasn’t been yet and the spaces he occupies with Montgomery Allen. It’s an uneasy existence but one that is often transcendent and exceptionally beautiful.
However, as ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ shows, there is beauty to be found in the waiting. Surely there is also longing, injustice, and pain, and these are things that must be confronted and fought with the same tenacity as Jimmie looking to repossess his family house and the city from the unspoken forces which forced him out. But the intimacy of a friend, the joy of labouring on a space to call your own, even the tension between the person you are versus the person you want to be — these are all glimpses of a time when the longing is no more and home will, at last, be found. One thing that I know for a fact that you will experience, in the last couple of minutes of the film, where you see Jimmie Fails in a rowing boat and I know for sure you will shed a very emotional tear in viewing such a beautiful cinematography scene.
The Verdict: Throughout ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco,’ the film’s photography is just totally staggering and so beautiful. Jimmie Fails and Montgomery Allen are defiant men, one tenaciously hopeful and one idiosyncratically radical, the film makes a poignant case for the will of resolute individuals as the true soul of any American city. This film was supported by the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco Music Track List
MGV (Musique Á Grande Vitesse) (Written by Michael Nyman)
FAMILY REUNION (Written by Jordan Gomes) [Performed by Jordan Gomes]
LET'S DO SOMETHIN' SMOOTH (Written by John Costello, David Hilker, Danny Moore and William L. Thompson) [Performed by London]
BLUE (Written by Joni Mitchell) [Performed by Choriosum, Italy]
SOMEBODY TO LOVE (Emile Mosseri Remix) [Performed by Jefferson Airplane]
SAN FRANCISO (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) (Words and Music by John Edmund Andrew Phillips) [Performed by Daniel Herskedal]
2018 FREESTYLE (Written by Bby Laana) [Performed by Bby Laana]
Symphony No. 103 – Finale – Allegro Con Spirito (Written by Joseph Haydn)
BLUE (Written by Joni Mitchell) [Performed by Joni Mitchell]
O Mio Babbino Caro – Gianni Schicchi (Words and Music by Giacomo Puccini and Giovacchino Forzano)
MOTHERLESS CHILD (Written by Fred Herrera and Nancy Nevins) [Performed by Sweetwater]
SAN FRANCISCO (Written and Arranged by Daniel Herskedal, Joe Talbot, and Emile Mosseri) [Performed by Daniel “Tuba” Herskedal]
I GOT 5 ON IT (Written by Anthony Douglas Gilmour, Denzil Foster, Garrick Husbands, Jerold Ellis, Thomas McElroy, Claydes Smith, Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, Donald Boyce, George “Funky” Brown, Jay A. King, Michael Marshall, Richard Westfield, Robert “Kool” Bell, Robert “Spike” Mickens and Ronald Bell)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – LIONSGATE presents this film with a stunning 1080p image and is shown in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Director Joe Talbot and Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra capture the film’s dreamy and poetic scenes with the ARRI ALEXA Mini digital camera. Various San Francisco street performers and eccentric characters populate cameo moments. The visual side of things if frequently highly stylized, and though the film uses bounteous location shots, at times it seems like green screen might have been used for backgrounds for moments like the street preacher, giving things a slightly unreal quality. The palette is beautifully suffused, and can often veer toward warmer territory like golds and reds. Detail levels are often quite impressive, offering excellent accounts of finely patterned costumes or some of the textures on, in and around the house that Jimmie Fails takes over. All in all, it’s an outstanding picture image.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – LIONSGATE brings us this film with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio experience. The dialogue is clear, but one criticism is that times I could hardly hear what they were saying as they tended at times to mumble their words slightly quiet, but the lovely understated composed score by Emile Mosseri perfectly complements the drama you get to see before you. On top of all that, the audio establishes nice surround activity in the frequent outdoor moments, as well as in the use of both source cues and underscore. Even some of the quieter interior scenes offer clear placement of ambient environmental sounds in discrete channels, and dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly throughout.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Audio Commentary with Writer / Producer / Director Joe Talbot [2019] [1080p] [1.66:1] [115:59] Here we are introduced by Joe Talbot who informs us that he was very heavily involved with the film ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ and tends to ramble on about the change in music in the background and related to all the companies involved with the film, but one thing that really annoyed me is how quiet Joe Talbot spoke. Joe Talbot talks about the little black girl we see running along sucking a sweet at the start of the film and informs us this little girl had never been in a film before. The Preacher we see standing on his plastic soap box and informs us that he is a native of San Francisco, and the actor Willie Hen has been a rapper, an activist and it was his first time playing The Preacher. But what The preacher is shouting about, is actually a true today in San Francisco, as it has the highest cancer rate in that part of California, because in the past in that area of San Francisco, the place was built on toxic waste. When you see actor Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors [Montgomery Allen] on the skateboard together, they both had to practice a lot before filming started and the two actors were helped by the skateboard aficionados and the actual colourful skateboard was actually built slightly larger to accommodate the two actors on it. With the two actors skateboarding around San Francisco and seeing all the people they were passing in slow motion and it was filmed by a very special camera entitled ARRI ALEXA Mini digital camera that can film at 1000 frames per second and can only film for 10 seconds. When the two actors stop skateboarding and stand and look at the house they are obsessed about, Joe Talbot says it took them over a year looking for a specific house they were seeking to film about, because houses in San Francisco are becoming far too expensive and when people move into these houses they usually rip out everything, and they wanted to find a house that had all, of its original features inside the house, and the house they filmed inside was owned by Jim Tyler who embodied the spirit of San Francisco and actually bought the house twice, when he finally bought it the second time it took 50 years to do the property up to its original design, and the point roof Jim Tyler actually carved the wood himself to make it look like its original design and Joe Talbot was hoping to put the film of Jim Tyler working on the pointed roof in an extra on the DVD release, so I am quite curious why Joe Talbot could not of put that extra on this Blu-ray Release? The organ you see in the house being played by Rob Morgan [James Sr.] is the original organ that has been in the house since Jim Tyler purchased the house. Joe Talbot talks about the five black actors that stands in front of the Montgomery Allen [Jonathan Majors] house and those five extra actors have worked with other directors and one of those actors Jamal Trulove who plays Kofi and when he did the audition, took Joe Talbot to one side and informed him that he had done counselling and Joe Talbot felt his performance blew him away and after the audition Jamal Trulove informed Joe Talbot an incredible story that he had been wrongly convicted for murder and spent six and a half years in prison and Jamal Trulove thought he was never going to be released and basically fought for his freedom and of course eventually he won his freedom and received $10,000,00 compensation and became a folk hero in the San Francisco community. Joe Talbot now talks about the actor Danny Glover who plays the character Grandpa Allen and Joe Talbot feels he embodies the soul of San Francisco and also has been an activist, but does not inform us what sort of activist he was. Even though Danny Glover has worked all over America and other places, and has always been involved in everything to do with San Francisco, and everyone in San Francisco is very proud of the actor Danny Glover. Joe Talbot talks about the yellow car we see that a guy sleeps in it and relates to something that happened to actor Jimmie Fails and his Father in the past that both happened to also live in a car and someone stole their car and drove off with the car and when the driver was caught did not think there was a problem in stealing the car. When we see all the construction workers on a building project, and a lot of the workers are somehow related to Joe Talbot, so I suspect the director got these extras on the cheap? One thing that annoyed me about Joe Talbot that now and again he just waffles on about total rubbish information that is totally not at all interesting and sounds like to me that he likes the sound of his own voice. When you see actors Jimmie fails and Jonathan Majors putting all the furniture inside the house late at night and opposite we see this extra actor walking his dog and looking at the actors, Jimmie Fails walks over and shakes the actor’s hand and we are informed that this actor has appeared in several Cohen Brother films and Joe Talbot was honoured to have him in the film and says he was a very funny man. When you see the black actor Timothy Robert Blevins [Tim “Opera” Blevins] singing opera and we are informed that he is actually an Opera singer who is always singing in downtown San Francisco and went to The Juilliard School in New York. Joe Talbot talks about the strange scene of the extra actor David Usner who is 100% naked and sits next to Jimmie Fails and thought he was very brave to do that scene in the film and it was actually filmed on a busy inter section of San Francisco in the Castro district. When we see actor Jonathan Majors packing his things to move to move into the other house, and who talks to Danny Glover and explains the scene is like director Joe Talbot talking to his parents when he was moving out of his parents’ house and even thought you love your parents, you have to move on, and feels actors Jonathan Majors and Danny Glover captures that mood really well, that one is leaving the nest where you grew up. When you see actors Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors on the bus and both are carrying the yellow flowers and opposite them is Jimmie Fails Mother LaShay Starks and it relates to something that really happened to Jimmie fails meeting his real mother on a bus, because they had not seen each other in a very long time and we never get to find out why they had not seen each other in a very long time. When we see everyone who has been invited to the play by the actor Jonathan Majors and it is entitled “The Last Man in San Francisco” and Joe Talbot says it was a very difficult scene to shoot and had to do it in one day, and felt actor Jonathan Majors just blew us away with his performance, and the stamina to do that performance he performed, and for me personally, to have all those actors that had to sit there all day in the attic without any daylight, must have been a very painful experience. Joe Talbot talks about the scene where Jimmie Fails walks down the jetty towards Jonathan Majors after find out that Jimmie Fails grandfather never actually built that house, and is here to apologise to Jonathan Majors for his anger and outburst in finding out the truth, and Joe Talbot says that Jonathan Majors and Jimmie fails struck up a real close friendship during filming and that Jonathan Majors is a really trained actor from Yale University and has acted in other big films and took Jimmie Fails under his wings and taught him a lot about acting, because this was Jimmie Fails first big film he has been in. When we see Jimmie Fails in the rowing boat in the San Francisco bay, Joe Talbot says that it is the last shoot of the film and Jimmie Fails has never ever been in a small rowing boat before, and at that point the audio commentary by Joe Talbot ends and thanks us viewers of sitting through his audio commentary of the film ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco.’
Special Feature: Ode to the City: Finding ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ [2019] [1080p] [1.66:1 / 1.78:1] [11:02] With this special featurette, we are informed that this film is a Love Letter and an Ode to San Francisco and it is also a story from Jimmie Fails life and that is where it all starts and they talk about growing up in San Francisco and their lives and the film cam about between two close friends, and feels the film was made by the entire citizens of San Francisco and they say there is something about San Francisco and the deep connections you get from the community and also that you experience the fruits of the city of San Francisco, but you also experience the pains of San Francisco. Jonathan Majors says that what was very important that drew him to the script, because it was pretty original and there was nothing like it at all and the amount of care Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fails input into the script to tell the story and it made it so clear that it gave you a very clear message of true friendship and the story of ownership. Actor Rob Morgan was also drawn to the script because of the love of our brothers that reflected our San Francisco and when he really read the script, he found so many beautiful nuisances and he wanted to be part of the film. Actor Mike Epps informs us that he originally lives in the inner city and could relate to the script of life in San Francisco and the characters that live in the community and was really interested to be part of the film. But the main crux of the film is about a man who is in love with a particular house, and it is also a buddy film, and feels the certain man belongs to this particular house. Jonathan Majors plays the very good friend to Jimmie Fails and in the film he lives in a certain house in San Francisco, which is to this day the only African American neighbourhood in San Francisco, and of course with Jimmie Fails is obsessed with one particular house, Jonathan Majors of course gets deeply involved with his friend trying to reclaim the a particular house. Actress Tichina Arnold talks about why the actress wanted to get involved with the film, because it reflected her personality, and in the hope for a brighter future for Jimmie Fails. Danny Glover talks about his character Grandpa Allen in the film, who originally was a migrant, who came to San Francisco, and just like Jimmie Fails Grandfather helped build a community in San Francisco and the promise of something different to where they originally came from. Director Joe Talbot says that the film is about the characters that make’s San Francisco so great, and the entire original people that we grew up with. Jimmie Fails also says that he wanted to capture the people they knew and grew up with in San Francisco. Jimmie Fails want the director Joe Talbot wanted him to show the truth of San Francisco as much as he could, and Jimmie Fails feels it certainly shows San Francisco is full of love and excitement and colour and poetry and feels Joe Talbot had a special way of telling a story, and also showing San Francisco how it goes and this is how San Francisco is, and also gives you lots of flourishes of San Francisco life, laughter and love. Mike Epps thinks always to him that San Francisco is a very artsy place and also feels it was a great place to shoot the film. Actress Tichina Arnold feel that the story that is being told, is the selling of San Francisco and it is important that it goes in line with each other and that you could feel it, and you can see it and the film is awesome to watch. All the cast felt there was a great big beautiful vibe and was a lot of gun to play with the ensemble cast, and like the legendary Danny Glover, and everyone got a great feeling on the set, and everyone felt the film was really making it happen. They also felt it was really great to be part of the project and also with so much heart towards the film, and visually it is quite breathe taking, because of the input from everyone and you could feel it was going to be a great film and at that point the special featurette ends. We get a plethora of clips from the film. Contributors include: Jimmie Fails [Actor / Story by Jimmie Fails], Joe Talbot [Director / Writer / Producer], Danny Glover [Grandpa Allen], Jonathan Majors [Montgomery Allen], Rob Morgan [James Sr.], Mike Epps [Bobby], Tichina Arnold [Wanda Fields]
Blu-ray and DVD Trailers: THE SOUVENIR [2018] [1080p] [1.66:1]; mid90s [2018] [1080p] [1.37:1] and HIGH LIFE [2018] [1080p] [1.85:1]. Running Time: 7:14
Finally, the film ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ remains a melancholic and a very poetic work, largely due to the work of its two leading actors and aplomb direction. It is a compelling and often beautiful piece of film-making; it brings heartfelt resonance to an immediate social issue hitting our communities and individuals everywhere. What a pleasure to find a good film this summer that doesn’t depend on explosions, bullets and martial arts. A story that blends heart and heartbreak, and director Joe Talbot concludes the film “began as a conversation between two friends … and ended up feeling like it was made by an entire city.” Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
