Review 94: Fruitvale Station (2013)

After seeing Creed last year I’ve had Ryan Coogler’s film Fruitvale Station high on my watch list. It is currently available on Netflix so I decided to give it a watch. I’d attempted to watch it a few weeks ago, but reading the synopsis gave me pause as the film is based on a true story and I wasn’t sure I was in the mood to handle it. However, after watching it I found the story extremely infuriating and well told by Coogler landing it firmly in the Must See category.

Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan) is a 22-year-old Bay Area resident navigating his day on December 31, 2008. He meets friends, strangers, and celebrates his mom’s birthday before heading out with his friends to bring in the New Year.

Michael B. Jordan has done great work (yet somehow managed to end up in the horrible Fantastic Four movie) and his performance in this your pharmacies film is really strong. The film has very little substance and most of the events that witness are strictly for building character, but Jordan brings the full range of emotion and intrigue I’ve come to expect with him. Jordan’s onscreen  chemistry with his mother (Octavia Spencer) and his girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) really make you connect with his character Oscar. The scenes with his daughter Tatiana (Ariana Neal) are extremely touching and made the climax of this film all the more devastating.

There is a scene in the film where Oscar stops to get gas and sees a stray dog. He pets it and gets to pumping gas when a truck speeds by and it is revealed that the dog has been hit. Oscar picks the dog up and brings him out of the road and is desperate to help, but doesn’t know what to do. It’s a sad moment in the film and demonstrates the quality of character Oscar has. The film is basically a series of scenes the demonstrate his character in both a positive and negative light. He’s a dad trying to make it in a world where it’s not always easy to do the right thing. While he makes mistakes, he appears to be a loving father, a loving son, a caring person, and one who genuinely wants to do the right thing, but often finds it impossible.

This film left me devastated which few films have done before. I’m not ashamed to cry at a film, but the story portrayed here definitely connected with me on a deeper level. I’m avoiding spoilers but there were several things that bothered me. The film is definitely well made and demonstrates Coogler’s ability to tell a story and develop a character.