David Talbot's post today on Facebook

[Douglas Caddy]

David Talbot posted this on Facebook . Let us share his joy in his son's work and in his triumph over his stroke last year that was a near death experience:

I just returned from the Sundance Film Festival where I had the emotionally overwhelming experience of watching the world premiere of my son Joe Talbot's first feature movie, "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" -- to critical and audience acclaim. The film is already being heralded as "a breakout festival highlight" by Rolling Stone magazine among others (see the rapturous review below). Hollywood Reporter critic Todd McCarthy actually calls "The Last Back Man" "by far the best film I've seen" at Sundance 2019. "It's one of those unique films that doesn't fit into any category at all." (Watch McCarthy's Sundance wrap-up here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/…/last-black-man-san-fran…)

Here's what Rolling Stone says about "The Last Back Man": "This extraordinary ode to the displaced delivers a major breakout hit for the festival’s opening weekend. It feels singular, righteous, heartfelt. It’s the type of film that reminds you why you go to Sundance in the first place."

I'm overcome for several major reasons: Because raising Joe was always a creative challenge for his mother Camille and me (let's just say that school was not Joe's thing), so it's especially gratifying as parents to witness his artistic triumph. The film also stars our "third son" Jimmie Fails, who lived in our home for five years, when his own home life evaporated. Joe and Jimmie worked out the movie's plot -- which is based loosely on Jimmie's personal story -- over years of long walks through our neighborhood in the Mission and Bernal Heights, as San Francisco grew increasingly alien to these two young native sons. The film brings to life a San Francisco that few outsiders know about -- and features some of the talented young African American men that Joe and Jimmie and our younger son Nat grew up with. "The Last Black Man" seems like an artistic expression of some of the themes I explored in my book "Season of the Witch." But it goes beyond my efforts as a journalist and a historian to a whole new creative level.

Finally, I was deeply moved to the point of tears many times during the film (and believe me, I wasn't the only one in the cavernous Eccles Theater at Sundance) for a very stark reason: because I didn't die last year. Because I survived my stroke, and was physically intact enough to fly to Utah and to navigate the icy streets of Park City, and to enjoy this magical moment. There were more than a dozen of us family members and close friends of Joe and Jimmie crammed into a rented ski lodge together -- all there to experience this miraculous event. In fact we were part of a 70-person home team of cast and crew members, most from San Francisco, who showed up at Sundance to revel in this moment.

I could go and on, but I'll stop being a proud poppa and simply quote director Boots Riley ("Sorry to Bother You") who also showed up at the Eccles Theater to watch the film's world premiere and afterwards tweeted this: "'The Last Black Man in San Francisco' is a beautiful work. It's visually poetic, hilarious and definitely had me crying throughout the movie -- but without those cliche oh-they're-trying-to-make-me-cry cinematic tricks -- but from an intense recognition of life. See it."

The film will certainly play at the SF Film Festival in April and then after finishing the festival circuit, probably open in theaters in the fall.

 

[Ron Bulman]

Wonderful to know Mr. Talbot has recovered to the point he could enjoy this with his family.  A long way from a fellow patient eating Mexican food.