VITALS
Ryan Coogler – Writer/Director
Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Red Tails) – Oscar Grant
Octavia Spencer (Seven Pounds, The Help) – Wanda/Oscar’s mother
Melonie Diaz (Be Kind Rewind) – Sophina/Oscar’s girlfriend and babymama
And a supporting cast that donated
laudably realistic performances that added to the film’s organic feel,
including Ariana Neal (as Tatiana), Trestin George, Destiny Ekwueme, Kevin
Durand, and Chad Michael Murray.
IF YOU MUST KNOW:
Here
are the details that are undisputed.
Oscar Grant was a 22 year old black make with a checkered past. He was riding on the Bay Area Rapid Transit
(BART) system after celebrating the New Year with his friends (as so many of us
have done in repeatedly). He was stopped
by the BART police after some sort of altercation on the train. He was face down on the ground and shot in
the back by one of the BART police who claimed that he had mistaken his pistol
for his Taser when he fired a shot into Grant’s back that proved fatal. The officer was tried for 1st
degree murder and found guilty only of involuntary manslaughter. Say what you will about the legal system in
the US being the “best in the world,” but damn if it don’t seem like the consequences
for taking the life of a young black male seem to be pretty insignificant to me
– no wonder we kill each other at such a
high clip.
I’m
just sayin…
Anyway,
this may be THE timeliest film I’ve ever seen.
It is certainly one of the most poignant. While there are things that could have been
better from a writing and performance perspective that would have made this
more compelling, it is far wiser not to take liberties when putting something
like this on the big screen based on actual, non-ancient people with family and
friends still around. Certainly, I could
have done with one or ten less utterances of the word “bruh” from Michael B
Jordan, but maybe that’s how Oscar talked.
I don’t know how cats in the Bay area speak – maybe E-40 is a true and
accurate representative, fo’ shiggadale. Then again, maybe Jordan or Coogler had a few
too many brehs/brush in the dialogue.
Maybe the film could have ended on a less “artsy” note… Tough call. Notwithstanding the minor oddities that
reminded me that this was a movie, I could not help but think that Fruitvale
Station may be the most important movie I’ve seen in a long time. Up next in the list of potential usurpers to
that title is Lee Daniel’s The Butler (as long as he doesn’t go all Precious on
us, it should be a great film, too).
I
couldn’t have been more tempted to tear up during a film - between the still
moment immediately after that shot was fired and the reaction when the doctors
tell the family and friends of Oscar that he’s gone… the verisimilitude was
crazy, man. I saw this film at the
Angelika Theatre (so there are only between 5-8 other brown people in any of
the theatres at any given time) and there were about 2 dry eyes in the house…
maybe 3, assuming the guy I saw with the eye-patch was in the same theater as
me. Seriously, damn near the whole
theatre got more than a little verklempt.
(Trying to keep it light or I’ll get angry… I mean Incredible Hulk style
angry.) This film does a terrific job of being fair and balanced in the anti-Fox News sense of the phrase. That makes it that much more impressive.
There’s
no way I fail to add this film to my DVD collection when it hits the
stores. You really should find your way
to seeing this film at some point in your life.
In the theatre, on-demand, streaming, on DVD or digital download. Cop this.
ImTHATdude gives
Fruitvale Station: 5
RATING
SYSTEM:
5
= You should be about halfway to the theatre by now… Well… GET!
4 = Definitely worth the bread. Niiice.
3 = I won’t cuss anybody out and demand my paper back.
2 = Somewhere SOUTH of under-whelmed./I know it has a pulse, but…
1 = Not a good look. They played me AND I played myself.
4 = Definitely worth the bread. Niiice.
3 = I won’t cuss anybody out and demand my paper back.
2 = Somewhere SOUTH of under-whelmed./I know it has a pulse, but…
1 = Not a good look. They played me AND I played myself.
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