“The Last Black Man in San Francisco”
Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco… No major city in the United States can escape the clutches of gentrification. Years before, white people fled to the suburbs. Flying from the inner-city, they took wealth, businesses, and community with them. In their absence, vibrant and multi-cultural communities took hold, put their roots deep in the ground, and began to grow. Soon, white people decided to fly back toward the city center. Costs began to rise, and housing became unaffordable for the people already living there. They found themselves forced further and further away from places they had made their home. “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” attempts to wrestle with this challenge by asking, “Who does a city belong to, if not everyone?”
“The Friend”
Focused on a dying mother, her husband, and their friend who moves in to provide assistance, “The Friend” carries an emotional weight often found missing in modern-day cinema. Perhaps it was the right film, at the right time, but this movie hit me like a ton of bricks. Looking around the theater, I wasn’t alone in this sentiment. It is able to achieve such honest and raw emotional connections thanks to a beautifully written script and performances originating from genuine experiences. In the end, it was a beautiful thing to behold and left most people unable to move from their seats. It has been more than a decade since I have had an experience like this at the cinema.
“1917”
“1917” is more than the sum of its technical achievements. On par with “Saving Private Ryan” and “We Were Soldiers,” this film forces you to experience war. By choosing to focus on two characters, their mission, and by never breaking our attention in the same manner as “Birdman,” we get as close to war as possible without the fear of death. In those prolonged moments, we experience fear, turmoil, loss, exhaustion, triumph, and the pain of it all. Without a doubt, you will leave the theater thinking a simple thought… “I have never experienced anything quite like that!”
“Free Solo”
There has never been a film like “Free Solo.” Sure, there have been documentaries encapsulating human achievement for future generations to watch and understand, but few films have impressed upon their audience the sheer volume of risk and consequence like this one. To truly understand what this film means for filmmaking and the power of human will, you must stand back and dissect it in pieces.
“Clemency”
We can debate endlessly about whether or not a civilized society should be putting its own citizens to death for crimes in which they have been convicted by a jury of their peers. “Clemency,” asks us to do something more than debate. It asks us to fully submerge ourselves into the lives of the characters on Death Row. From the warden who is supposed to see justice through, to the tireless lawyer, to the inmate we believe has been wrongly convicted, and to those left in their wake, this film is an emotional powerhouse deserving of a large audience and a more humane debate around the death penalty.
Be good to each other,
Nathan
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