Institute History
Description
Jimmie Fails has one hope in life: to reclaim the majestic Victorian house his grandfather built. Every week, Jimmie and his only friend, Montgomery, make a pilgrimage across San Francisco to Jimmie’s dream home and imagine what life would be like if this neighborhood had never changed. When they realize the house’s current owners have moved out, Jimmie decides to recreate the home his family once had. As he struggles to reconnect with his family and reconstruct the community he longs for, Jimmie’s domestic aspirations blind him to reality.
Director/co-writer/composer Joe Talbot makes an astonishing feature debut, transfiguring one man’s intimate despair into a timely story that questions who has a rightful claim to a city’s identity. Inspired by the real-life story of Jimmie Fails, who plays a fictionalized version of himself, The Last Black Man in San Francisco elegantly engages with a loss of cross-cultural connection as one individual seeks belonging in the new incarnation of his hometown.