Fruitvale Station

An accomplished film from young writer/director Ryan Coogler detailing the events that led up to the murder of Oscar Grant, a 20-something black man, by San Francisco police on New Year's Eve.

Most of the film is a day-in-the-life study of Oscar, a young man who's trying to get straight in an environment that doesn't make it easy. He's recently spent time in jail when the movie opens, and he's lied to his girlfriend (with whom he shares a young daughter) about getting fired from his job. The lure of petty drug hustling is strong, but he's fighting the temptation, and he's got a mom (Octavia Spencer) who checks in occasionally to remind him how disappointed she'll be if he falls back on crime. The film avoids making any kind of hero out of Oscar -- he's a decent guy who's fighting the odds in not terrible but not great circumstances, and though his murder could easily have become a symbol of white oppression (which in real life it did), the movie doesn't force that idea down its audience's throats.

One of the things I liked best about "Fruitvale Station" was how honest it was about its portrayal of white/black relations. White people don't play much of a role at all in these black people's lives -- the cop who murders Oscar is white, but the film shows other interactions with random white people that are perfectly normal and kind. The movie isn't concerned with preaching about how whites and blacks should get along -- instead it acknowledges that whites and blacks exist in very different cultures and explores the worst case scenario of how tragic the outcome can be when one doesn't make the slightest effort at accepting the humanity of the other.

Grade: A-

Fruitvale Station begins with a disturbing phone video and ends with an intense recreation of the events surrounding that video, but in between, it's a little dull. The movie's main intent seems to be simply to show that a nice guy can get hit by disaster, so much of the film is just showing you the main character being a nice guy; planning his mom's birthday party (the mom's performance is a standout), talking to his kid. He's not portrayed as a saint - he has a quick temper and a bit of a past - but he's still basically a really nice guy.

This means that about two thirds of Fruitvale Station is a slice of life drama about a nice guy going about his normal day, which is really not that interesting. Most of the power of these scenes relies on that opening video, as you find yourself thinking, this might be the last time he sees her, this might be the last words they say to one another. And the movie does have a nice way of dropping in moments of menace, always signified by an effective low rumbling sound that brings your attention to key moments in a low-key way. But knowing something is coming, the movie seems to feel it doesn't need to make the events leading up to it especially interesting.

Things pick up as the movie heads towards its upsetting recreation of that video. From the time we see the first Bart station, the movie is quite engrossing. Even here though, there are issues, most prominently in a series of absurd coincidences that scream Hollywood set-up in a way unexpected in an indie film.

For a movie about an incident that triggered racial tensions, the film is surprisingly un-race based. That's admirably even-handed, but it may be one reason the film lacks passion; a good guy in the wrong place at the wrong time is not a subject for passion. Yet, the film lacks the sense of philosophic musing that might make the whole doomed nice-guy thing work.

Fruitvale Station (2013)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Exceptionally good drama from writer-director Ryan Coogler about Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) and the various encounters his has with those around him. This fact-based drama gained major media attention when Grant was shot in the back by a police officer and this film really tries to be as real as possible in regards to its actual visual look. I'm not going to sit here and say this is a documentary because no film with a script and acting should be called a real document of any event. I'm sure things have been changed and altered for a dramatic effect so obviously one shouldn't come here expecting a documentary. With that said, there's no question that this is an exceptionally well-made movie and one that features some very good performances. I think the strongest thing that the film has going for it is the realistic style that Coogler creates. It's also as if we're really there on Grant's final day as a camera just follows him around from one location to the next. I thought this really helped create an environment that the viewer could connect with no matter what their race was. I think the film also does a good job showing where this 22-year-old man was in his life when all of this was going down and I'm sure many people won't approve of some of his choices but there's no question that the end result is something that's not only shocking but will leave you scratching your head as to why it happened. I think most people are going to know the story already but that really doesn't take away from the drama created by Coogler. In fact, we're shown what happens as the movie starts so we know how everything ends. Jordan turns in a terrific performance in the lead and I really like how he never tries to make Grant some sort of superhero or anything that he wasn't. I appreciate how the performance is just raw, on target and shows a human being struggling with life. The supporting performances are all good with Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz standing out. FRUITVALE STATION is depressing from the opening scene all the way through the opening credits so one shouldn't come here expecting something cheerful but it's certainly hard hitting.

I knew nothing about the true story behind this film before I saw it but Ryan Coogler did an impressive job of telling this controversial story. Coogler takes us to the last day in 2008, and introduces us to Oscar Grant's life. A young, troubled father that is trying to do the right thing by his family. This was his debut at Sundance and he didn't disappoint. The audience laughed when the actors laughed and shed tears when the actors shed tears...it was a very moving film. By the end of the film I felt as though I knew these people personally. The whole cast did an excellent job! I'm looking forward to hearing more about Ryan Coogler in the future.

I don't usually bother writing reviews, but this is a good little film that I feel has been unfairly maligned by a few uninformed reviewers here, so I'll add my two cents:

Fruitvale Station is a solid film, well paced and edited, with a strong lead performance by Michael B. Jordan and some standout work by Octavia Spencer. The sound design is particularly noteworthy. The cinema verite camera-work (No, "M. Brand," the visual style here was a choice; well made student films, even cheap ones, generally look better than this) left me underwhelmed for most of the film (and honestly, the mistimed focus pulls were pretty distracting) but paid off big time in the Fruitvale sequence. There the cinematography, editing, sound design, and score combined to create the most gripping ten minutes of film I've seen in a year. I'd recommend Fruitvale on the strength of this sequence alone.

Ryan Coogler admittedly takes some dramatic license with the story. Some of it (the Katie character) works, some (the bit with the dog) comes off heavy-handed. None of it gave me any reason to question the film's "fidelity" to the facts. The unfettered access to Oscar's family, legal documents from the criminal and civil case (including all the video taken on the scene), and the tacit approval of BART (They were allowed to film on the actual BART platform and in their cars!) gives me no reason to believe this film takes any more narrative license with the facts of the Fruitvale incident than many documentaries would.

The film is not perfect. Some of the performances are subpar, some of the improvised dialogue bumps, and the day-in-the-life conceit, while not ignoring Oscar's spotty past, does paint him in an unrealistically rosy light. But by and large this is a moving, gripping, at times infuriating film that will stick with you after the credits roll. Congratulations to Coogler and his team.

**As for the troll who called this film "socially irresponsible," your opinion and the reasoning behind it are so abhorrent I struggle to imagine any person, no matter how ignorant or loathsome they might be, taking you seriously.