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It is, in brief, enchanting.
San Francisco is also imperfect and infuriating.
Its a case study on the effects of rapid urban gentrification.
He was otherwise transient.
In a way I got used to that sort of thing.
I know how to make my way around my city.
Joe Talbot: Thats so true.
They say keep Santa Cruz weird.
Youve got cartoonists and old-timey doc filmmakers and muralists and people who spin up the bakeries on 24th Street.
Its just so many different kinds of people that we feel that were losing.
And thats part of the heartbreak, you know?
Seeing whats been happening in our lifetimes, and seeing that it extends to long before we were alive.
My parents bought our house for just over $200,000 in 1994.
It was one of the only places they could afford, and now they could never afford it.
Were barely holding on to our house.
As kids we were very encouraged to do that.
Jimmie I lived there for years to get this movie made.
It felt like that house was a place of grounding.
Without that house I dont think the movie wouldve got made.
So the movie about a home in a way it comes from a home.
And its just different now.
It takes longer for me to get homesick.
Even now, I would usually be like, Oh, hows the city?
I cant wait to get back, and its not the same anymore.
I didnt go to college.
So, its a complicated relationship.
Fails: They were so many interactions, too, during the showing.
They just got all the little things.
It was such a nice confirmation that we did something they could get behind, that they can support.
Talbot: Im not going to lie.
And with each draft, it got more nuanced and complicated.
I dont think its good to fight back in that way.
You know what Im saying?
As violent as gentrification is, thats not the San Francisco way to fight back.
Im so glad it took as long as it did.
I was about to turn 20, and youre young and kind of fiery.
How are you going to feel for a character thats bitter in that way?
I was like, Okay.
I dont know how you got my number.
I dont know whats going on, and we just talked about the old Fillmore, old San Francisco.
I was inconsolable when he startedsinging San Franciscoa cappella.Talbot: That was a pretty magical day.
That was a special day.
Its not one company.
Its not even just people moving there.
Its people in city government.
Its still your city, and youre still a San Franciscan no matter what you do.
Fails: And they dont have a fucking bathroom.
One woman said after one of our screenings, Fuck, I love men.
And I was like, … said no one in 2019.
Well, that is a feat!
We appreciated that, and Im really encouraged by it.
