How our friendship became a film
Director Joe Talbot on how The Last Black Man In san Francisco is an ode to his city — and his best friend
A Sweet, intimate, deeply personal drama, The Last Black Man In San Francisco was a huge hit at this year’s Sundance. First-time filmmaker Joe talbot co-conceived it with his best friend Jimmie Fails, who stars as himself in a story partly based on his own life, and refusal to let go of his old childhood home. it’s a poetic paean to roots — and, as talbot explains, friendship infused the entire production and beyond.
HARNESSING THE EMOTION
Talbot and Fails met as teenagers, beginning a friendship that soon turned into filmmaking. “we could be more vulnerable with each other than with other friends. the first time we ever hung out, he came over to my house and we just talked late into the night. He had to call his group home [Fails lived in foster care from the age of three] to check in and let them know where he was. they didn’t believe him, that he would just be [with talbot] talking — they were like, ‘Are you out doing drugs?’”
BEING BONDED BY THE CITY
In the film, Jimmie pines for the way things used to be, squatting in his old childhood home, fighting the sweeping gentrification. “we both have a kind of romantic sense of old San Francisco that we’re trying to hold onto in our memories and our hearts. At first we were really angry and confused by the changes we were seeing, but over time it became more loving, partly because of the people around us making the film — they gave so much of themselves to this project, and that feeling bled into our hearts.”
VISUALISING FRIENDSHIP
In a sweet and gentle motif, Jimmie and his on-screen best friend Montgomery (Jonathan Majors) traverse the city together on a single skateboard.
“Seeing the way Jonathan puts his hands on Jimmie’s shoulders to almost gently steer him as they embark on this journey across town, we were hopeful that it could establish the unique bond that Jimmie and Jonathan had. we don’t often get to see guys be comfortable, being that close on screen, and it not be suggested as more.”
ENJOYING THE RESULTS
Talbot and Fails have been hearing from people all over the world who have been touched by the on-screen friendship.
“i remember watching [Ken Russell’s] Women In Love. that movie blew my mind, this bond and
closeness that I just never got to see men in my life have. Jimmie said he wished that when he was growing up there was a movie like our one, with this kind of friendship, because it would have saved him a lot of questioning and doubt — you can feel like that when you don’t feel like you see things reflected on screen that are in your heart.”alex