Wow. Honestly not sure what to say about this movie, past calling it beautiful, inside and out. I kinda can't believe it's a debut feature. Another great film in a series of great recent films about the gentrification of the Bay Area and conflicts of race and masculinity that come with the desire to push back against it.

he was a sk8er boy he said fuck society dis huge ass house is mine and my totally platonic best friends', boys

Took me a bit to warm up to this and just how different it is. Truly a breath of fresh air both in it’s story and filmmaking. It’s very dense and there’s a lot that happened so I might have to revisit this the next time I get the chance but man. Great performances, great ending, and the music.....god DAMN.

“you don’t get to hate it unless you love it”

stylistically new but also so familiar, like a long forgotten classic lost in the pages of history. every shot is a breath of fresh air, it almost feels like the first real film i’ve seen all year. i’m stunned

I HEARD YOU PAINT OTHER PEOPLES' HOUSES

People aren’t one thing.

It seems I have a soft spot for person-location relationships in movies.

as i left the theater the usher asked me how it was and i hope my response of good paired with my bloodshot eyes from crying didn’t send the wrong message

Nah bruh, this ain’t it. 

This cinematic trend to beautify Black struggle and minimize it narratively to some struggle of “self” rather than a real analysis of how Blackness always gets the short end of the stick by design is a horrible trend. This film attempted to use cinematic tricks and visual aesthetics to cover up for the fact it has nothing real to say about what has happened to Black people in gentrification despite its grandiose title. It hides beyond vague personal storytelling of family mis-truths that they top off with some cliche Black masculinity conversation that you could find in a Vox article all the while making a caricature of the urban Black male. But I’m supposed to forgive it cause it has slick visual imagery that attempts to stroke your sentimental heart strings? B.S. I give it a 1 star cause I liked that it had some Zoom shots. Other than that, skip it.

there's tenderness in every single frame of this film

59

A film with a staggering first half and a deflating, jumbled coda. So many ideas and so little exploration or nuance to unpacking them. Much of what makes the film great - a play in progress, the physical and spatial reconfiguration brought on by gentrification - doesn't allow for the other details and subplots to flourish. What remains, then, is an involving and gentle story of friendship and memory's affect, lingering along the shoreline. Solid film.