The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)

Director: Joe Talbot
Stars: Jimmie Fails, Jonathan Majors, Danny Glover
Runtime: 121 minutes

Synopsis: A young man searches for a home in the changing city that seems to have left him behind.

Performances: 3/5
Screenplay: 3/5
Costumes/Makeup: 4/5
Editing: 3/5
Cinematography: 5/5
Score/Soundtrack: 5/5

Verdict: I wouldn't call "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" a style-over-substance movie, but I personally was much more impressed with its technical aspects than its narrative. Joe Talbot's imposing directorial debut stars Jimmie Fails as a version of himself (the character he plays even holds the same name as him) who's trying to reclaim his childhood home in, you guessed it, San Francisco.

I was honestly baffled at how much style and personality this movie had from a technical point of view. Each frame, much like the film's poster, resembles a very lively and colorful painting where every little detail is perfectly placed where it needs to be. The camera movement was incredibly dynamic and definitely injected more life into a film that already looked very lively. The movie was a feast for the eyes but also a treat for the ears as Emile Mosseri's score is possibly my favorite of the year so far. Hell, even the soundtrack is to die for, and features an original song in its third act that I will be listening to for days now.

What didn't impress as much, however, was the film's script and to some extent acting. It does a pretty good job at serving as a love letter to the city of San Francisco, but I personally wasn't as invested in the characters' journey as much as I was in the film's technical aspects. I'm not saying that it was bad by any means, and maybe other people might relate to it more than I did, but I found it to be a little too cheesy at times and a little too on the nose at others. The runtime of 2 hours was also about 15 minutes too long in my opinion, but that just meant 15 more minutes of gorgeous cinematography so I didn't really mind it.

FINAL GRADE: 7.5/10