Other Tales of the City
Feb. 8th, 2020 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiAs I booked my ticket for Reading Film Theatre, I read the (rather vague) update on the website's home page that the theatre is under threat of closure. It would be sad to lose it; the proposal for a new cinema in the Broad Street Mall isn't going to be a substitute, and the loss of a Europa Cinemas grant presumably can't be strictly due to Brexit if it operates in 43 countries.
Anyhow, on Thursday evening I went to see The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Notionally it's about gentrification, as Jimmie wistfully craves the possibility to reside in his former family home. Following a dispute in the family of the current residents, it becomes empty and Jimmie decides to squat there with his friend Montgomery. They enjoy their time there, although it's marred by a violent death in a group of friends with whom they have an uneasy relationship. But, eventually, harsh reality takes hold, the house is put on the market, and they are thrown out. In fact a fair part of the film is really about self-illusion and denial, as Jimmie clings to the belief, inducted into him as a child, that his grandfather built the house. The story doesn't really begin or end, it just drifts; a lament for the "left behind", perhaps, but full of ambiguity.
Anyhow, on Thursday evening I went to see The Last Black Man in San Francisco. Notionally it's about gentrification, as Jimmie wistfully craves the possibility to reside in his former family home. Following a dispute in the family of the current residents, it becomes empty and Jimmie decides to squat there with his friend Montgomery. They enjoy their time there, although it's marred by a violent death in a group of friends with whom they have an uneasy relationship. But, eventually, harsh reality takes hold, the house is put on the market, and they are thrown out. In fact a fair part of the film is really about self-illusion and denial, as Jimmie clings to the belief, inducted into him as a child, that his grandfather built the house. The story doesn't really begin or end, it just drifts; a lament for the "left behind", perhaps, but full of ambiguity.