The Last Black Man in San Francisco
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO - A24
The enormously critically hyped but aloof A24 feature The Last Black Man in San Francisco finally comes to the shores of the UK and the wait is undeniably worth it. Joe Talbot's feature is a stunningly performed and orchestrated portrait of race and societal pressures trapped and drowning in a damned system.
Talbot's film looks nothing short of incredible with outrageously choreographed cinematography from Adam Newport-Berra. It looks spectacular with a beautiful, symmetrical approach — not too distant from the works of Wes Anderson. Each frame is evident of the dedicated passion of love and emotion put in to the film, induced in every deliberate and hypnotising composition. The use of colour is magnificent and hypnotic with the production design from Olivia Kanz and Jona Tochet astounding to witness on screen. Made all the more captivating with the inclusion of a truly astonishing and luxurious score, courtesy of composer Emile Mosseri, who provides perhaps some of the most captivating and soft hums of music brought to screen. It is both rousing and gripping that heightens the emotional experience ten-fold.
The screenplay from writer-director Joe Talbot and co-writer Rob Richert is tremendous. It is quaint, furious and poignant with every stroke of its eloquent brush. Expertly and captivatingly delivered by leading actors Jimmie Fails and Jonathan Majors, the two performers put forth spectacular renditions of their respective characters caught in their equally-as-dominating crossfire of racial and societal pressures as well as weighed down by a closed-off system.
Majors in particularly showcases a stunning performance with an unswervingly emotional underbelly of restraint that implodes with a striking monologue in the film’s third act. All the tension and fury comes to the surface in a powerful explosion of honesty that tears the screen apart in anguish and disaster. Majors’s character is written with an undoubted range of mysticism and enigmatic elements regarding the character’s place in his own life and the nature of Fails. Not explicitly regarding his sexuality, but more a third party force there to guide. Fails, who is also credited as a story writer, puts forward a similar but not as complex performance as Majors. Fails’s role is a wonderfully coy and subtle rendition of inner emotional turmoil, especially a scene in which he begins to beg a bank clerk for a loan. It is delicate and not heavy-handed with Fails, providing a stunning turn of emotional complexity and delicacy.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco is released October 25, 2019.
