The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) User Reviews

Well-Made, Thoughtful Yet Ever-So-Slightly Empty Drama

[bastille-852-731547 · 7/10 · 15 June 2019]

This independent drama on the effects of gentrification in San Francisco played to strong reviews at Sundance. It's also distributed by A24, and their films are generally very high-quality. Judging from its trailer, the film looked to be a mix of understatedly beautiful aesthetics (including some extraordinary cinematography of the Bay Area,) searing character drama, and social commentary. The film is generally well-made, and some aspects of it are undeniably impressive for a directorial debut.

The plot follows a man named Jimmie, whose grandfather built a house in San Francisco on land he purchased during World War II. Today, Jimmie wishes to live in this spacious Victorian house, but its market value has skyrocketed due to gentrification of the neighborhood (and nearby neighborhoods) near where it is located. He begins to develop a scheme with his best friend to move into the house. The film's cinematography is exceptional, and manages to juxtapose both realism and romanticism in terms of how it depicts both the ideals and the realities of San Francisco residents today. Some of the film's shots may remind viewers of Spike Lee's early films, but the film's aesthetic always feels wholly original at the end of the day. The film also uses a variety of other visual and narrative tricks, such as a tableaux vivant-style scene, to help convey the points it is trying to make on how gentrification is affecting relationships between people in urban areas today, much less exacerbating social inequality. The film's simple score is beautiful and almost haunting at times in terms of its elegance and emotional power. The performances in the film are generally strong, as the almost laid-back method acting of the two leads is thoughtful and impactful in its sheer simplicity.

Despite the film's clear achievements on a technical and narrative level that intersects strong performances with aesthetics, "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" isn't perfect. The film doesn't have too many key plot points, which would normally be okay given the film's understated tone. However, the film does feel rather drawn-out in that the narrative doesn't always impact even scenes in which the director is trying to promote substance over style. The narrative's climax is also a bit disappointing. It lacks a clear transition both preceding it and after it, and doesn't quite pack the impact on a viewer in which a film's climax should. That said, the ending is generally satisfying. Also, the film's social commentary is a bit of a mixed bag in that it shows the ways in which gentrification has affected San Francisco--yet it manages to reduce supporting characters both benefitting from and greatly harmed by gentrification to almost caricatures. As a result, the film's messaging on the perils of gentrification in cities comes up just a little short, and clearly falls below the effectiveness of social commentary in films like "Get Out." That said, there's definitely plenty to like about this indie drama. Generally recommended. 7/10

Captures the bonds of friendship that transcend changes brought by social and economic dislocation

[howard.schumann · 8/10 · 2 August 2019]

The San Francisco I knew as a young man was a place with a sense of community and culture that welcomed the adventurous, the imaginative, the creative, and the marginalized. Though, like every other major U.S. city, it was not always a place of harmony, and some neighborhoods had its dangers for outsiders, yet it was a city with a truly diverse population and a rich bohemian culture which has now all but disappeared. Joe Talbot's first feature, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, laments the heart of a city that has been broken by gentrification but celebrates the beauty that remains. Gorgeously shot by cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra, and aided by a pensive score by Emile Mossei, the film is an affecting work that is based on Talbot's lifelong friendship with Jimmie Fails who plays a fictional version of himself, a young black man estranged from a place that he once called home.

Winner of the Directing Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the film opens as two men, Jimmie (Jimmie Fails) and his best friend Montgomery (Jonathan Majors, "Out of Blue") wait impatiently for a bus to take them to the city as a droning preacher (Willie Hen) stands on a soapbox shouting "Remember your truth in the city of façades." It is a message that reverberates throughout the film. Mont and Jimmy are headed to an old Victorian home on Golden Gate Avenue which Jimmie claims his grandfather built in 1946. The house, in what used to be a working class neighborhood, was lost by his father James Sr. (Rob Morgan, "Mudbound") in the 90s and Jimmie is obsessed with getting it back.

With pride, Fails claims that his grandfather was the first black man in San Francisco. Though this is little more than an urban legend, it provides him with a rationale for what he thinks is his historical claim to the house. Much to the chagrin of the older white woman (Maximilienne Ewalt, "Sense8" TV series) who owns the house, Jimmie often comes to touch up the paint on the windows and take care of the lawn but has to duck the fruit the owner throws at him while demanding that he leave the premises. The taciturn Jimmie works part-time as a nursing home attendant and Mont works at a fish market though he is also an artist, writer, and playwright.

Sadly, Jimmie's family is scattered and he has no home. He sleeps on the floor of Mont's house and, in an evening of warmth and friendship, they are shown watching the 1949 San Francisco film noir "D.O.A." on TV together as Montgomery narrates for his blind grandfather (Danny Glover, "The Old Man & the Gun"). Across the street from Mont's house, a group of young macho studs taunt the two friends presumably for their lack of "toughness," but it later becomes clear that much of it is posturing. In two striking scenes, Jimmie travels across the bridge to have some reflective conversations with his Aunt Wanda (Tichina Arnold, "Wild Hogs"), and in a funny but heartbreaking encounter, runs into his mother on the bus but their reunion is as uninvolved as it is fleeting.

To underscore the sense of displacement, Bobby (Mike Epps, "Resident Evil: Extinction"), a friend of James Sr., lives in Jimmie's dad's old car and insists on giving the two friends a ride into town which they reluctantly accept. In a scene that typifies the old spirit of San Francisco, Fails sits on a bench and is joined by a completely nude, older man (David Usner, "Roxie"), a scenario that scarcely raises an eyebrow with the exception of some rowdies passing on a tour bus. Things turn when the current owner of the old Victorian dies and it looks as if a legal dispute will tie up ownership rights for some time.

Acting quickly, after a real estate broker tells them the house would cost four million dollars to buy, they transport the family's old furniture, mostly still in good condition, into the mansion and move in as squatters. Though Jimmie still follows his dream, he knows that trying to recreate the house as he remembers it is a delusion, a fact he is forcefully reminded of by Mont in a play performed before a small audience in a corner of the old house. The Last Black Man in San Francisco captures the bonds of love and friendship that exist between people, bonds that transcend the changes brought by social and economic dislocation.

To put it in perspective, Reverend Danny Nemu once said, "Some mourn as their edifices crumble; but for the open-eyed and uninvested, all that is lost is that which lies between them and deeper understanding." Talking about his relationship with Mont, Fails agrees, "All I want is for friendships like ours to be able to exist," he says, "and that doesn't exist in the new San Francisco. That's really what it's about, getting back to that point where artists and outsiders can live there. Where weirdos who didn't feel accepted could come because that's what it used to be about. That's the best San Francisco in my eyes." It is the idea of San Francisco The Last Black Man in San Francisco lovingly conveys.

An extraordinary poignant and beautiful film

[regonzalez-20510 · 8/10 · 7 June 2019]

This movie is beautifully made, shot and acted. There's a good deal of comedy here. The City is a character and breathes in a way not shown before on film. It's the small places shown, the neighborhoods that don't make it into other movies, the light and the cold. The sense of longing is strong in this film. The characters, all of whom are a bit off, long for a stability that isn't there, but that they all hope for and work towards. This is a movie about people who are being crushed in a variety of ways by the workings of capitalism and keep struggling forward. It's not a political movie or an obnoxious "message" movie. Nothing to hit you over the head. It just shows you folks. This is a love letter to a city that ain't there anymore. A place where I grew up but am a stranger. Where the homes I grew up and played baseball in the streets in front of, no one let's kids play in the street in front of anymore. The kids like the housed are too expensive.

Brilliant

[srdas-93585 · 10/10 · 7 June 2019]

This movie began as a joke between friends...then those friends: Director Joe Talbot and lead actor Jimmie Fails worked on this project unofficially for 10 years. Each scene is thoroughly orchestrated, nothing is rushed in this film. Nuanced themes are pervasive throughout this visually beautiful movie. I do not believe a movie based in Hollywood could acheive the things this movie has. It is a masterful portait of delusions, the transitory nature of ownership, gentrification, friendship, growth, masculinity, the growing pains of the life, the City as a whole and much more. I give it 10 stars for the fact that I do not believe there was any room for improvement. A new classic.

SPECTACULAR MASTERPIECE

[earthgirl-54214 · 10/10 · 18 June 2019]

Wow. I had high hopes for this movie when I saw the trailer, and for once in my life, my expectations were exceeded. I cannot stress enough how beautiful this film is. Try to watch it in theatres if you get the chance because the cinematography is breathtaking. The film created such a dreamy atmoshpere while simultaneously mainting a harsh realism about life in San Francisco. Meanwhile, numerous human themes are explored, including masculinity, racial stereotypes, friendship, gentrification, class, etc. I also commend both Jonathan Majors and Jimmie Smalls (hopefully I spelled correctly) on amazing performances. Smalls' displays more subtle emotion, while Majors shocks you with an Oscar-worthy performance that packs so much emotion. I just wanted to cry the entire time. Sometimes because of the sheer beauty of what was on screen. Everything is enhanced by the brilliant score. I'm done raving, but please do yourself a favor and go watch this movie.

Semi-autobiographical movie about the changing San Francisco.

[TxMike · 15 December 2019]

My wife and I watched this at home via Amazon Prime streaming movies. Quite different from most movies, some parts I didn't like, especially when there was lots of screaming or street arguments among the street guys. However the core of the story, involving a young black man longing to reassemble his family after earlier being evicted, is done very well.

We see on the news frequently that the high cost of housing in San Francisco continues to create problems and this story builds on that realism.

Jimmie Fails wrote and starts as himself, Jimmie Fails. This is his story, their former home in San Francisco was built in 1946 by his grandfather and he continues to visit it, even care for parts of it, even though a family now lives in it. He holds out hopes that he can get it back, but it is probably worth $4Million now. But we gradually find that his is a false memory, and his attachment to it is on shaky ground.

In an interview Fails states, "It's actually more a story about family, the fleeting nature of love and happiness, and fighting to find one's place in an evolving world. When I lost my house, which is what happens in the movie, it wasn't at all because of gentrification, it is about San Francisco changing, but that's not what we set out to make a film about."

Very interesting movie, some will like it while others might find it much ado about very little, or maybe just a slice of life of a black person in San Francisco constantly struggling to find a worthwhile life.

A well-intended tale of melancholy that's sadly quite boring

[Stay_away_from_the_Metropol · 6/10 · 2 August 2019]

Beautifully shot, earnestly acted, effectively melancholy, with a plot that's pretty refreshing, featuring a handful of really strong scenes... but unfortunately as a whole the movie still manages to be quite boring to sit through.

Does what an indie film is supposed to do

[studiocity1949 · 9/10 · 9 June 2019]

This one strikes two big nerves: the crisis of gentrification and displacement happening in San Francisco and other cities across the country; and the general absence in most movies of nuanced presentations of Black masculinity. "The Last Black Man In San Francisco" scores in both cases. It's a beautiful, moving portrait of friendship and a gut-wrenching story of loss. It does what indie films are supposed to do: make us see things differently. The score is gorgeous. The acting, by pros and amateurs, is excellent. (Jonathan Majors is a standout. And check our Rob Morgan's scene.) Above all the movie is different. Unlike just about anything you've ever seen. Quirky, pensive, angry, melancholic. And despite it's sadness, somehow hopeful. Director Joe Talbot and lead actor Jimmie Fails deliver!

Unrealistic and implausible

[nagan2020 · 6/10 · 4 January 2021]

The cinematography was stunningly beautiful and the music was also pleasing to the ear. I even found the melancholic atmosphere of the film to be cozy at times. However, I just couldn't stand the story and the portrayal of the lead character which were simply unrealistic and implausible. I understand that this was a house he had grown up in. It was also a special house because he believes that the it had been built by his grandfather. But that doesn't give him the right to just move in unlawfully and pretend that he owns it. He acts like a little kid claiming someone else's toys as his. Or perhaps, none of these "little things" matter if we consider this movie as a modern-day fantasy tale. Or one might have a different impression if you have a special connection for the city of San Francisco. But being a non-native, this movie just didn't work for me. The concept of the movie had its potential but was poorly executed.

Majors is AWSOME.

[hrolandwhite · 10/10 · 18 February 2019]

This movie may be the best " San Francisco" movie made. Jonathan Majors puts on a show, next to Jimmie Fails playing himself. The two of them are truly entertaining for the entire move. Must see if you like movies.

Beautiful but Bland

[ray_vermiglio · 6/10 · 24 January 2021]

The cinematography and music feel more San Franciscan than the story.

The Critics Weren't Lying

[cgearheart · 10/10 · 10 July 2019]

I had read a review from a gentleman who had said this movie had moved his audience to audible tears and at that point I knew I had to see the movie. It takes quite a bit to make me cry so I took my chances. I was a slobbering mess. I honestly started weeping and I could not stop myself. This film is so special and I can't stress it enough. The fact that it was both a love letter to a friendship and city and that it portrayed two young men as being unique but strong individuals who weren't ridiculously manly was so impressive to me. I won't spoil the film for you but you must see this film, because it's the best I've seen all year. It's beautiful, it's real, it's The Last Black Man in San Francisco.

A+

A handsomely crafted love letter to San Francisco

[eddie_baggins · 7/10 · 29 June 2020]

As a piece of debut filmmaking and as a love letter to the unique American city of San Francisco, Joe Talbot's dreamlike The Last Black Man in San Francisco offers much for audiences to enjoy as the up and coming director produces a beautiful ode to his every changing hometown, one that is constantly evolving around an every changing cityscape that harbors many stories, secrets and links to the nation's past.

Winning the directing award at last year's Sundance Film Festival and produced by Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner's Plan B production company, Last has come from humble beginnings to become one of 2019's most talked about sleeper hits, as Talbot's intimate character study and city examination entails much to be said about the American landscape and its history, all around a likeably slight plot line of Jimmie Fails obsession with restoring an old house in the city built by his grandfather to its former glory.

From the moment we join the film with Fails and Jonathan Major's loyal friend Montgomery Allen listening to an African-American preacher proclaiming in the streets against the backdrop of a fog filled San Francisco backdrop, Talbot is setting the agenda for his unique film that is brilliantly captured by DOP Adam Newport-Berra and memorably scored by Emile Mosseri, helping ensure that Last has a style and substance all of its own to be enjoyed by cinephiles enjoying its oddball delights.

There's a tone and feel to the film that's not dissimilar to a Spike Jonze or Michel Gonroy picture, and while the film has a whole may not end up as fully formed as the best of those directors works, it's great to see original filmmaking alive and well in the Hollywood system, that has seen a resurgence this year and last of the smaller character driven films that have shown they can compete in a market place filled with remakes, redo's and big budget failures.

Key to the films enjoyment outside of the vibe Talbot manages to create is the performances of Fails and Major's who both excel in their respective roles as men lost within a city they no longer fully understand.

Fails in particular is awards worthy as his namesake, a man driven close to insanity by an insatiable quest to reclaim a piece of his and his cities history, it's a fully formed performance by the up and coming star who shines in a cast that also features neat small-scale turns by the likes of Danny Glover as Allen's elderly relative and Mike Epps as a local street hood Bobby.

It's a shame the film loses some of its energy and verve in a more middling middle section but bookended by a fantastic opening act and a generally moving finale, Last is a strong contributor to a top class collection of independent films that are making their marks at the end of year awards seasons.

Final Say -

An original piece of American filmmaking, The Last Black Man in San Francisco carves out a unique identity for itself as it lovingly pays tribute to the city in which it is based and puts director Joe Talbot's name up as one of the up and coming directors to keep a very close eye on.

3 ½ skateboard rides out of 5

Slow pace and meaningless

[galacticos1611 · 4/10 · 2 April 2021]

Not sure what i missed here, but i didnt get it at all. Boring pace, empty characters, meaningless dialogue and meaningless script/story. But hey, watch it and make your own judgement.

A Superb, Thoughtful Character Study

[kjproulx · 10/10 · 14 August 2019]

I've been thinking about calling A24 one of the best studios making films today, but it really hit me while watching The Last Black Man in San Francisco. This is a studio that very carefully picks their projects and more often than not, finds great material to release. I now believe they are not just one of the best, but the absolute best of the best, especially when looking at the films released by studios throughout this decade alone. This character study is one of the best films you will see this year.

Jimmie (Jimmie Fails), finding it hard to cope with the fact that the house his grandfather built may be taken away from him, leaving him with nothing, takes it upon himself to find a way to hold onto it. That's the core premise of the movie and with a strong friendship between Jimmie and Montgomery as the backbone of the dramatic aspects, this is a film that places its main character front and center. With a well fleshed out character that has me engaged from start to finish, you've already won me over, but there is so much more to love and admire here.

Adam Newport-Berra is at the helm as the film's cinematographer and I truly believe this has set the standard for the year. I would be absolutely shocked if he doesn't receive a nomination for his work in the coming months. On top of that, being director Joe talbot's first feature film to be released, it goes without saying that he is a filmmaker that's here to stay and I am giving an early prediction that, if not this year, there will be an awards season in the coming years that consistently rave about something he has done. The Last Black Man in San Francisco is littered with talent from top to bottom.

This movie would be a technical achievement in independent cinema regardless of the material being shown on-screen, but the fact that these technical aspects are buoyed by a central performance that truly moved me was another level of special. Actor Jimmie Fails plays a character by the exact same name and there may be personal influences that helped his performance here, but a great performance is a great performance nonetheless and he delivers one of the best I've seen all year so far.

In the end, The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a film that takes its time in setting up the scenarios at hand, dives deep, and eventually delivers a very touching conclusion that had me totally invested. With superb direction, camerawork that deserves many awards, a score that soothes the mind as you're watching, and a core performance that elevates the already great material, this is a film that surely can't be missed. This is one of the very best movies I've seen all year.

Almost more of a poem than a movie.

[starjosie · 10/10 · 1 November 2019]

Stunning visuals, gentle people, pervasive sadness, outstanding performances, geeze, I loved this movie.

Well-meaning but I would have loved a re-write

[eileen2020 · 30 June 2019]

By now folks know the story, or at least the premise. Who isn't against the brutality of the Bay Area tech sector, and its destruction via cash and more cash of the zeitgeist of San Francisco? The forcing out via arson and eviction of poor renters, ditto. Horrendous. But this is a quiet buddy movie, evidently, with a Victorian house as the object of their ... affection? Obsession? There are several women in it, bit parts of no importance. Why? It's all about the guys. Jimmie, the lead, believes -- implausibly to the point of absurdity -- that his grandfather built the house in 1946. He wants to own the house. It means everything to him. This conceit becomes an important part of the story. The music is beautiful, the acting is perfect, the cinematography is gorgeous, but this viewer wanted so much more.

Near miss

[bogus-bogus-one · 6/10 · 26 September 2019]

This is one of those films that feels like it is going get good any minute but... never breaks free. The actors seemed good enough but the story ends up dragging on, so the performances become tiring. If you watch to the end, you may feel exhausted as well as disappointed. At least I did.

Much More Than a Title

[peterandrewalbert · 10/10 · 9 June 2019]

The trailer for this movie (which is in itself a wonder) set up some expectations for me, and they were met: it's a melancholy film about a black man feeling pushed away from the city he loves. But the movie is so much something more that I'm still reflecting on it three days after viewing. The film is gentle and expansive, anything but divisive or self-pitying: a celebration of the unique, oddball, all-embracing quirkiness that San Francisco inspires and cultivates. It's just as much about a friendship between black men that endures because of San Francisco's peculiarly protective cover. I came away moved by the friendship story - the kind of friendship that the film itself suggests changes lives and can survive gentrification.

The trailer promises visual beauty and the film delivers, coming as close as a movie can to diagramming the cool, foggy spell San Francisco can cast - but the images on the screen are there to both break a heart and to inspire hope.

And man, are these images beautiful! This movie is a natural addition to the ranks of "Vertigo," "Bullitt," "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Tales of the City" - movies that lean on SF as more than a backdrop, but indeed as a co-star. It all works to underscore why the hero (Jimmie Fails, playing himself) is so compulsively distracted by, even focused on, his unsettled business with his hometown. Set to a dreamy score by Emile Mosseri and Michael Marshall's cover of "If You're Going to San Francisco," there are moments in the movie that well up and stir; that are flat out unforgettable.

Meandering love letter that still impresses

[brockfal · 6/10 · 20 December 2021]

I really wanted to like this film but at times I found it hard to hold my attention, however, there is still much to savour. It's a love letter to San Francisco, but also a real life take of how time and gentrification is changing cities and populations. Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors are great as the two men trying to hold on to an old property and looking for a way forward for themselves too; it's directed by Joe Talbot in a lyrical poetic style which is often marvellous, but the script and narrative is sometimes annoying and even pretentious, and even a little unbelievable too. That said, there is much to admire.

Solid film

[ayojerkinskarega · 8/10 · 26 October 2019]

An artsy movie. Very good story, script, and plot. Excellent cinematography, really shows the beauty of San Francisco. Excellent message on gentrification, homelessness, and love. Very good believable acting. The pacing was a little slow, but overall a very good movie. Overall, I'll give it an 8/10.

I kept waiting

[guyadiangold · 6/10 · 3 July 2021]

I saw this movie when it came out, and I really wanted to like it because it is so rare to see Black actors on the big screen who are not playing a negative stereotype !

It was a slow film, which is fine, however, it just didn't get any better, and I really didn't understand the point of the film.

The movie had potential and though it got close to making a powerful breakthrough a few times, it just never go there, so I was left feeling disappoined.

"You can't hate (a city) unless you love it."

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 3 July 2019]

You know, as someone who has been an almost New Yorker my whole life, I'm not sure if truer words have ever been spoken about a city (and to a... Hey, that's Thora Birch in a movie again!)

It's hard for me to find the right or easy words to compare this to other films because Im not sure I've seen something quite like it. Maybe there's aome fluorishes of cinematic (and I mean fully, lyrically, poetically, if not quite to the philosophy plane) that Malick does, but only in fluorishes. Someone I read said Scorsese in some of the surreal touches. But this has such a lush look and feel, and in depicting not just how a place is on the surface but how it feels and its soul, what the people mean in it as well as the smoke and fog and the flowers and trollies and the whites and the blacks and those in between, that it feels akin to a city symphony film... That also happens to have a strong story about two friends trying to figure out their place in life/the world/San Fran/that house that was (but wasn't) build in 1946 by our heros grandfather.

It's a film by Joe Talbot - and holy moly do I want to see everything he will do for the rest of his life - that doesn't shy away from, for lack of a better phrase, lifting ones spirits while at the same time depicting the people in these places as honestly as possible. That may be slightly Scorsese as well, without as much or the usual element of street crime... No, that is there, but it's like this presence that is there but, one hopes, only on the periphery... Until it isn't. These two friends just want to live on their own terms, as far as the basics of a place to live that makes one feel at peace, and also for a place to create (one draws and writes plays, the other keeps fixing up the house to look just right).

What's against them? The conflict? Oh, systemic racism and poverty, class warfare, throw in some gentrification too; an interesting but important side note too is the detail that the neighborhood with the coveted house used to be Japanese dominant, until WW2 changed that with the camps, then black people cane in (and then the... Last 25 years of making everything prohibitively expensive to live in a city that isnt on the fringes). One (more ignorant) might look and say, "pffft, get a job and work so you can get that house, or who even needs that house anyway."

But this is ignoring everything that makes up the foundation of these young men and what their options are. At the same time, this is all larger-issue points that come up when looking at the films characters and this beautiful but complicated (and sometimes quite violent) world of San Francisco. Why it's so great is that the filmmakers find fresh and original ways of bringing visual umph and lift to the emotions they're feeling - or that they would like to feel, or aspire to.

Like Moonlight, this is a filmmaker (I mistakenly assumed he was black but looking at Talbot that's not the case, albeit a native of SF) looking at life in a city and showing us something we either may have not seen before or not in such a way that demonstrates what cinema can do. It can bring us up as well as crash us down. It can find the unique and... Unusual people who may be frankly neglected by those in a city who would look the other way (or not at all). It can make us laugh at some absurdity, or, in a lot of cases here, make us unsure what to feel at times, like at one point where the theatrical playwrite artist comes in to the group of street guys (all of course talking s***) and acts as though he is putting on a play with them (a Stanislavski mention gave me a big laugh). And it can make us wonder what is in ourselves and what we want out of life and what it can provide as well as easily/tragically/crushingly take away.

This feels really special, in ways that another viewing will hopefully make clearer. AND it's the *other* (superior) black-led film this year where "I Got 5 On It" gets belted out.

Acting: A+ / Plot?: A snooze

[rigolinr-78-810859 · 7/10 · 5 July 2019]

The leads are astounding and save this overly artsy film from tedium. I think I get why critics like the film--they love San Fransisco and have liberal guilt about gentrification. This film comes off as a slight slap on the wrist with a bit of finger shaking in disapproval. Tsk. Tsk.

One critic said the director reminded him of Spike Lee but I disagree. Lee's satire and social commentary is IN YOUR FACE and he shows little mercy, particularly to white people who move in and gentrify neighborhoods. In fact, I would love to see this film remade, directed by Lee, and set in Bed Stuy. Now THAT would be a great film. This is a bit like an inoffensive Do the Right Thing.

B-O-R-I-N-G !!!

[johnharapa · 2/10 · 31 July 2021]

Utter waste of time, I desperately wanted to enjoy this - sadly I didn't.

I don't understand how many projects find the money to start production - but there it is.

A beautiful story told very poorly. Some great cinematography, great acting, some comedic value but don't be fooled by positive reviews - it's crap.

Watch at your own peril.