CLICK HERE if you are having a problem viewing the photos or videos on a mobile device
The Bay Area has always been fertile terrain for cinematic storytelling. (Remember Clark Gable and Jeanette MacDonald in “San Francisco” from 1936, or perhaps Steve McQueen in 1968’s “Bullitt?”)
Equally, it’s a bustling hub with a scene full of talented filmmakers. Over this past decade, more directors and screenwriters have set their sites on the Bay Area to tell stories that capture the essence of the times we live in.
So since it’s almost the end of the decade, we’ve decided to look at Bay Area cinematic magic that’s been conjured up these last 10 years.
Here then are the Top 20 films set or created in the Bay Area from the last decade, ranked in order. Note: Santiago Rizzo’s excellent 2017 debut “Quest: The Truth Always Rises” — a poignant semi-autobiographical drama about a teen’s life-changing relationship with a Berkeley High School coach — would be on this list, but it has not been released theatrically. Some studio needs to snap it up.
All the films are available to rent or stream.
“Fruitvale Station”: Ryan Coogler’s 2013 feature-length debut follows 22-year-old Oakland resident Oscar E. Grant on New Year’s Eve Day, hours before he was fatally shot by a BART police officer. It’s a definitive, deeply felt docudrama, one that fledgling filmmakers should study and learn from. Coogler, an Oakland native, shows rather than tells as Grant (Michael B. Jordan, in one of his best performances) looks to make a fresh start in a new year until he meets his tragic fate.
“Blindspotting”: Oakland has become a hot spot for innovative, thought-provoking features, and this ambitious comedy/drama is a powerful example. East Bay-born buds — and creative partners — Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal created and star in this 2018 hot wire of a cinematic experience that takes a pulse not only of Oakland but a nation as it confronts racism, more gentrification, and other spoken-word topics. What a fierce first feature from director Carlos Lopez Estrada. Let’s hope this trio reunite soon.
“The Social Network”: David Fincher — no stranger to spotlighting the Bay Area (“The Game,” “Zodiac”) — teams with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin for this 2010 take on the rise of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. It’s chock full of great performances and pointed cultural observations, and wields not one but two Armie Hammers. Multiple likes to that.
“The Last Black Man in San Francisco”: Joe Talbot’s first full-length drama speaks with poetic grace as it creates a unique, stage-like vision. This moving, hauntingly powerful 2019 parable from the Bay Area native finds San Franciscan Jimmie (Jimmie Fails) and his buddy Mort (Jonathan Major) becoming squatter’s at Jimmie’s family’s former home. Outstanding writing, acting (both leads are incredible), direction and photography. What an inspired and relevant film for our times.
“The Sessions”: This 2012 Berkeley-set drama is intimate and beautiful. It tells the true story of a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) hired to help journalist and poet Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a brilliant man who is in an iron lung, to be touched. It tenderly explores sexual issues with refreshing candor. Great acting throughout.
“Sorry to Bother You”: East Bay musician and filmmaker Boots Riley created one of the craziest slices of futuristic life in Oakland you could imagine. With tips of the hat to writer Anthony Burgess, Riley’s gonzo 2018 satire finds a telemarketer (Lakeith Stanfield) adopting a “white voice” that jump-starts his career — with freakish results. Tessa Thompson and an unhinged Armie Hammer also star, along with some horses. Gotta see it to believe it.
“Inside Out”: It might not be Pixar’s finest hour (“WALL-E” and “Up” remain my faves), but this 2015 animated hit creatively and poignantly deals with an often unexplored topic: how to accept and appreciate conflicting emotions. A move to San Francisco upends the life of an 11-year-old girl who is struggling to fit in.
“Pushing Dead”: San Francisco filmmaker Tom E. Brown’s funny, bittersweet dramedy failed to receive a huge release in 2015. That’s a shame, given how it is an absolute delight and cares so much about its well-drawn characters. Brown gathers a clutch of Bay Area friends as they face regional and existential crises, but it primarily focuses on Dan (James Roday), a sweetheart of a San Francisco writer who is HIV-positive and gets snarled in the health care bureaucracy.
“Kicks”: Based on his own experience of getting beaten up for his Nikes, uber-talented El Cerrito-born filmmaker Justin Tipping explores such meaty topics as masculinity and the need for vengeance. Tipping’s cast couldn’t be finer — particularly Oscar winner and East Bay native Mahershala Ali as an uncle with street cred. This gut-punching and audacious 2016 feature stays with you long after you’ve seen it.
“Planet of the Apes” trilogy: Reboots are often terrible, but this intelligent trilogy — set mostly in the Bay Area — defied the odds and gave us something exciting and original while referencing Shakespeare, “The Great Escape,” even “Frankenstein.” The final chapter — “War for the Planet of the Apes” — was one of 2017’s best films. If only all blockbusters could be this smart and moving.
“Searching”: Former San Jose resident Aneesh Chaganty takes Alfred Htichcock-style storytelling into the digital age with this insanely entertaining thriller that uses electronic devices to tell a taut mystery about a gone-missing San Jose teen and her father’s (John Cho, excellent here) desperate attempt to find her. Twisty, inventive and fun; but it was shot mostly outside the South Bay.
“East Side Sushi”: Upbeat indies don’t come around often, and that’s partly why Oakland filmmaker Anthony Lucero’s 2014 crowd-pleaser about a Latina single mom (Diana Torres) sasahiming away to become a sushi chef is such a welcome treat. Luccero’s beguiler captures a sweet spot, deftly expressing a feminist message while creating empathetic characters.
“The Diary of a Teenage Girl”: In her 2015 feature debut, Marielle Heller — who grew up in Alameda and co-wrote this provocative adaptation of a graphic novel — takes on daring, squirm-inducing material. “Diary,” set in the Bay Area, chronicles the ‘70s sexual awakening of a 15-year-old (Bel Powley) and her relationship with her mom’s boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgard, another great performance). As she did with the Oscar-nominated “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” Heller masterfully captures complicated characters as well as a time, mood and place.
“Licks”: Berkeley native Jonathan Singer-Vine’s 2013 feature debut keeps expanding its fan base. As it should. Shot in Oakland, it captures the lives of guy friends dealing with the streets and how they are expected to act. When one attempts to go legit, the chips fall all over the place. Filmmaker Singer-Vine is the real deal.
“Moneyball”: Bennett Miller plays loose with the facts in this entertaining adaptation of Berkeley author Michael Lewis’s excellent look at the numbers game Oakland A’s executive Billy Beane deploys to develop a winning lineup with limited money. Brad Pitt struts through his role as Beane while Jonah Hill, as a financial whiz, masters the astonished look.
“Bitter Melon”: You can count on San Francisco filmmaker H.P. Mendoza to put a quirky imprature on any genre. He did that with 2006’s “Colma: The Musical,” which he co-wrote but didn’t direct, and 2009’s “Fruit Fly,” which he wrote and directed. And he’s done it again with this rattlesnake of a 2018 dark comedy coiled around the holidays. A dysfunctional Filipino-American family gathers for the Christmas holiday — with bad tidings and baggage to spare. Get ready for an edgy shocker.
“Always Be My Maybe”: Netflix’s 2019 rom-com with Ali Wong and Randall Park is an all-out charmer that demands repeat viewing and boasts a killer cameo of Keanu Reeves playing Keanu Reeves. Wong and Park make a great team as former childhood friends who reconnect in San Francisco. It all works, from the writing — Wong and Park co-wrote it — to the tonal right direction from Nahnatchka Khan. (On Netflix)
“Ant-Man”: Paul Rudd lightens up the Marvel Comics Universe with this San Francisco-set tale about a tiny superhero with huge superhero talents. It’s breezy fun, and never takes itself too seriously.
“Palo Alto”: Gia Coppola’s solid 2014 first feature benefits hugely from a strong cast — Emma Roberts, James Franco, Nat Wolff, Zoe Levin and Val Kilmer. Although set in Palo Alto, it’s not filmed there. Still, the elliptical story, based on Franco’s novel, taps into the challenges and angst-ridden moments of mostly rich South Bay teens. It also features one of Franco’s best, most chilling performances.
“The Disaster Artist”: Palo Alto native James Franco directed this entertaining 2017 adaptation of East Bay native Greg Sestero’s memoir about filming “The Room” — aka the “worst movie ever made” — with mysterious filmmaker Tommy Wiseau. Franco plays Wiseau and his brother Dave plays Sestero. The film was well-received but James Franco’s #MeToo controversies likely muted his success at awards time.
Some other notables: “Blue Jasmine,” “Bumblebee,” “Steve Jobs,” “Jobs.”
