Babylon by the Bay

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) is a sweet drama about friendship, family, race and San Francisco. It’s far from our usual fare of action, horror and comedy, but I’m glad we watched it.

It stars Jimmie Fails as himself - a black man living in the Hunter’s Point area of San Francisco, a polluted neighborhood by the bay. He lives with his friend Jonathan Majors, in a tiny house with Majors’ father Danny Glover. Majors carries a notebook and spends his time sketching the people he sees and writing plays based on what he observes.

Fails’ family once lived in a classic San Francisco Painted Lady. Family history says his grandfather built it. Although an older white couple lives there now, Fails and Majors sneak into the yard when they are away and tidy up - taking care of the garden and touching up the paint. When the couple who live there break up and leave, the house will stand empty until its legal status is settled. Fails tries to buy it, but it will cost millions, and he has nothing. So he sneaks in, and starts just living there.

It ends when Majors puts on the play he has been writing, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”, to an audience of family and neighbors.

That’s it, but far from all. Fails and Majors had tough lives, but aren’t tough. They know the guys who hang out on the corner talking trash and fighting, but they aren’t them. Fails is always polite, introducing himself to his neighbors when he starts squatting. He’s hard-working, doing chores on someone else’s house. Majors is well-dressed, sort of scholarly - like a figure out of the Harlem Renaissance. They have jobs, but no money - they mostly travel by bus or together on one skateboard.

The ins and outs of the city, their families and the people they meet are what this movie is about. The scenes with Majors jammed into a tiny couch with his dad watching D.O.A. on TV, while Fails is crammed on the floor, are touching and filled with meaning. It’s a life that maybe satisfies Majors, and maybe should satisfy Fails, but he needs something else, like his family house.

Maybe I don’t have to say that director Joe Talbot makes this movie looks incredible - with the city as a backdrop, it’s expected. It probably won’t be a surprise to find out he and Jimmy Fails were childhood friends, and have been making this movie almost all their lives. What will they do for an encore?