“The Last Black Man’s” Ongoing Legacy

It's been over two years since the premiere of The Last Black Man in San Francisco, the independent movie that was the creative love child of two San Francisco native sons -- director/screenwriter Joe Talbot and co-star Jimmie Fails. But the film continues to have ripple effects. I stopped clicking on the Google Alerts about the film that continue to pop up on my screen each week. But this week -- maybe because my son Joe just celebrated his 31st birthday -- I did click on two stories related to the film.

My neighborhood news outlet, Mission Local, tells the sad story of local muralist Sirron Norris, who has been so harassed by gentrifiers that he made a poster inspired by the film.

Meanwhile, an entertainment magazine calls TLBMISF one of the top 15 saddest movies on Amazon Prime. As I told Joe, he's in good company -- with directors like Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard), John Cassavetes (Husbands) and Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight). Here's what the magazine says about Joe and Jimmie's film: "'The Last Black Man in San Francisco is sad as hell, and also proof that originality in filmmaking is not quite as dead as some claim. If you haven’t seen this, make it a point to change that."

Meanwhile, this beautiful and, yes, sad film has launched several careers. Composer Emile Mosseri went on to write the music for Minari, winning an Academy Award nomination and getting invited to join the Academy. Co-star Jonathan Majors has blasted to the Hollywood heights, with leading roles in the HBO series Lovecraft Country and other releases, while Jimmie's acting career is also taking off. And Joe has just written an entirely different movie with his partner Olivia Gatwood -- one not quite so sad but equally beautiful and even magical. He will direct the feature next year in Europe.

Here’s to the next wave of independent filmmakers. May they hold onto the artistic values that ignited them from the beginning.

Sirron Norris’s protest poster (right) and the original