Lived In - The Last Black Man In San Francisco
Have you ever had a piece of furniture so long that you knew everything about it? You could close your eyes and see its flaws and signs of wear, but also all the reasons you bought it and have never thrown it out. That is The Last Black Man In San Francisco. This is, through and through, a debut feature. Everyone involved has lived with this story and this city long enough to know every bit of it. The result is a film that feels familiar from the first frame because it knows itself.
Photo Courtesy of A24
Jimmy (played by Jimmy Fails, whose real life story is the basis of the movie) and his best friend Mont (played powerfully by Jonathan Majors) live in San Francisco. They grew up there and have watched it change over the years. It has now become a city they can barely afford to live in.
Years before the film, Jimmy’s family had an old Victorian house in the heart of the city, but lost it for any number of reasons. Now, Jimmy spends his days sneaking onto the property to do things like repair rails and paint windowsills.
When a chance occurrence means Jimmy can move into the house, he and Mont rush to do so. They then do everything they can to buy the house outright, but are met with the challenges of reality. Eventually, their ideals are tested and they must decide what actually matters to them.
Photo Courtesy of A24
The above outline is vague, but the magic of the movie is that none of that matters. At bottom, this is a macro-level story. The story of a city that has pushed out certain populations in favor of others. The deeply personal details belie just how universal this story is in a city where the median home price is in the mid-seven figures. The film does a beautiful job contemplating this reality without ever feeling preachy overly self-righteous.
Photo Courtesy of A24
But what the movie gets more right than anything else is its portrayal of Black male companionship. The film features a number of relationships between Black men that have a complexity that feels real. These are nuanced characters and fully realized interactions. That the movie gets this so right helps to elevate its broader message—that San Francisco is no longer a good fit for certain kinds of people. If you zoom out even farther, the real essence of the movie is that who you are is not a function of where you are. Places are what we make them and once they let go of us, it is okay to let go of them—even when that’s hard to do.
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