![]() In that combined 90 seconds or so of screen time, Coogler makes the mistake of trying to elevate his melodrama into that of a documentary, and the effect is just as uneasy as the overarching situation is. Had they both come at the end of the film or been cut altogether, the massage still would have been a tad on the manipulative side, but unquestionably more powerful. It makes Coogler’s film feel a bit too authoritative and like everything that happened between the start and finish lines happened exactly the way that he says it happened, when there’s little chance that could be the case. The real life prologue and final coda add something disingenuous to the story. ![]() It becomes a film where it’s really hard to keep believing in the details even when you know it’s going to end up in a tragic place with an event so terrible it would be awful no matter who it happened to. And the less said about a scene where Oscar cradles the body of a stray dog he watched get callously run over by a car, the better. It’s believable that it’s his mother’s birthday, but that should have added enough tragedy to the backstory. It’s way too convenient that Oscar picked this of all days to give up selling weed, literally dumping his only source of income into the San Francisco Bay. An early run in with his boss at his old job is fine, but making a random stranger he helps find some good fish at the store become the person to come back later and film Oscar’s killing reeks of dramatic contrivance. People have fateful days, but none as conveniently depicted to make a character look like a bit of a saint as this film does. Life simply isn’t that convenient and people don’t make these kinds of life changing decisions on a whim. It’s excellently executed to be very sure, but it’s like having someone tell you a true story that tries to tug at your heart by embellishing every little detail to the point of making things feel quite dubiously coincidental.Ĭoogler throws a lot at the audience that will come back into play later in the film, but there’s no way that everything depicted in Fruitvale Station happens in a single day, and if it doesn’t (aside from some prison flashbacks) the movie is never clear about the time line. It adds a layer of almost unintended manipulation to a story that’s already clearly taking great liberties to make sure the audience feels every bit of pain that bullet causes to Oscar and his loved ones. But if anything sours the film at all, it’s the inclusion of these first sixty seconds and another bit of archival footage at the end. On one hand it makes perfect sense to get the obvious out of the way since the incident was so infamous it has sparked memorials every year in the Bay Area seeking justice. That might seem like a spoiler, but Coogler spoils the ending right off the bat by making his first scene the actual cell phone recorded footage of the incident that went down at the titular BART station. It’s a decision that will lead to an altercation with thugs and police and leave Grant with a bullet in his back for his troubles. He wants out of selling weed – using this day to sever his ties to the game once and for all – and at the coaxing of his girlfriend they decide to take public transit to the fireworks in San Francisco. He’s recently lost his job at a supermarket for his inability to show up on time, a fact that he refuses to tell his mother (Octavia Spencer) on her birthday because he wants to still make it look like he’s trying to be responsible. He’s not that far removed from a prison sentence that has made him have even more of a hair trigger, defence mechanism temper than when he was in a gang back in the day. He’s a young, black Bay Area father in love with his baby’s mama (Melonie Diaz) deeply, but still with a bit of a wandering eye. The kind of performance audiences wait years to see and one that ends up burned deeply into the memory of all who see it.Ĭoogler follows the fictionalized Oscar around on his final fateful day. It’s something completely incomparable and revelatory. I don’t envy any actor that has to follow his work here. Jordan’s commanding, gut wrenching, and star making performance. But that’s of very little consequence thanks to Michael B. Director and writer Ryan Coogler definitely has the skills, but sometimes his reach overshoots his means. The film itself is a powerful, if sometimes narratively problematic true story about the events tragic death of 22 year old Oscar Grant in the early hours of New Years Day in 2009. Fruitvale Station contains one of the most electrifying leading performances in film history.
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