Fruitvale Station (B or 3/4 stars)
'Fruitvale Station' (written & directed by Ryan Coogler) is based on the tragic true story of Oscar Grant, an unarmed, 22 yr. old black man who, on the morning of January 1, 2009, was shot & killed by a policeman of the Bay Area Transit system. The event made headlines, mostly because it was captured from many angles by several cell phone cameras. 'FV' opens with some actual footage of events that night on the train platform. The rest of the film is a well-acted, yet straightforward, somewhat ordinary dramatization of Oscar Grant's (Michael B. Jordan) last day. There's a timelessness to the proceedings. The events that we see could happen anywhere, anytime, & to many people; showing the everyday highs, lows, pressures, & problems that are experienced by someone in the 'day of the life'.
We see Oscar as a flawed man with friends & family who loved him ... and that's pretty much it. Nothing overly dramatic happens; save for the last 20 minutes, where the train sequence occurs. But let me backtrack to the flow of the narrative: we 1st see Oscar as trying to get a legitimate job & trying to let go of a lifestyle of selling drugs - an offense for which he is on parole. He runs errands; spends time with his loyal, if frustrated girlfriend, Sophina (Melonie Diaz) & their adorable 4 yr. old daughter, Tatiana (Ariana Neal, wow). Since it is Oscar's mother's (stellar Octavia Spencer) birthday, he & his family attend her party. He then drops off young Tatiana at his sister-in-law's so that he, his friends, & Sophina can head into San Francisco to see the New Year's fireworks. A grim destiny ensues.
Director Ryan Coogler gives 'Fruitvale Station' a distinctively existential tone. We in the audience know how the story will end. And so, every single seemingly inconsequential action that occurs on his last day takes on a larger meaning. There is a fictitious scene in which he takes a dying dog from the street & places him on the curb {metaphor much?}. And there is an especially poignant moment where he says goodnight to his 4 yr. old daughter before leaving for the night of which he'll never return. To them in the moment, it's just another goodnight kiss. To us, it's their final farewell.
Now, for as engrossing as much of the film is, & for as strong as the performances, & for as intriguing as the Bay Area milieu is ... I did feel a tad manipulated. That scene in which Oscar says goodbye to his daughter is prolonged to a fault. It felt like a banging over the head that yes ... THIS!! is the last time they see each other. There's another scene in which Oscar befriends a white man who offers him a business card - I wonder, did this actually happen, or are we to believe that he finally got a job offer mere hours before his death? And there's a scene where Oscar helps a woman in a local supermarket. The kicker here: the same woman was in attendance with Oscar later that night in San Francisco & recorded his death on her phone. INSANE coincidence? Or emotional manipulation on the filmmakers?
Michael B. Jordan has a real presence. Jordan gives us an interesting, multi-faceted anti-hero who is neither a saint, nor a definitive sinner. He's a man who had struggled. A man who wanted to do good but may not have known how to in the heat of the moment. Melonie Diaz gives a nuanced portrayal as the loving, slightly irritated Sophina. Her line deliveries & body language felt genuine. The scenes when she was outside while Oscar was on the train platform are gut-wrenching; her inner-chaos was evident. Ariana Neal will break your heart as Oscar's daughter. And Octavia Spencer is splendid. The flashback scene where she visits Oscar when he was in San Quentin is beautifully heartbreaking. These 3 performances are instrumental in offering perspectives of the different sides of Oscar's personality.
I am giving this film a B rating. I do not think it is a knockout A, nor do I think it's an average C. It's decently made & wonderfully acted. The film evokes a tangible sense of time & place. And the staging of the climactic incident is powerful. My B rating comes in slightly below the average that most professional critics are giving this film. But I feel that the handful of 'phony' scenes take some of the lasting power away from the story. See, this true story has been well-chronicled. And the filmmakers don't lend anything particularly deep to the proceedings; with little more to say other than 'well, isn't this whole situation a damn shame'.
SPOILER: the film neglects to show us that the police officer who shot Oscar yelled (prior to his shooting): "stand back, I'm going to taze him!". At the end of the film, we are told that said officer 'claims' that he said that. Well. Yes. He DID say that. The whole debacle appeared to be an accident, and not fueled by racial hate (explicitly). The film almost leads us to believe that it was squarely a racially-charged. It may have been, it may not have been. But the fact remains, this nugget of information was kept from us in this film. END SPOILER. I just felt a little mislead.
I left the theater shaken, but not stirred. Not devastated. And I think that's a tribute to the depiction of Oscar as such a 'good guy'. That's fine. I'm sure he had many redeeming qualities. But as seen in this film, with many facets of him smashed-in to one day ... I don't feel that it was all so accurate. Oscar Grant did not deserve to die. He is painted as a troubled young man who sold drugs, landed in prison at an early age & may have cheated on his girlfriend. But he's also depicted as a nice guy who helps people out, loved his mother & grandmother enormously, and was trying to get his life on track for his girlfriend & daughter. I just feel like there could have been more to his story that we did not see. More discussion on race issues; and less shallow, emotional manipulation. Good film, but flawed.
We see Oscar as a flawed man with friends & family who loved him ... and that's pretty much it. Nothing overly dramatic happens; save for the last 20 minutes, where the train sequence occurs. But let me backtrack to the flow of the narrative: we 1st see Oscar as trying to get a legitimate job & trying to let go of a lifestyle of selling drugs - an offense for which he is on parole. He runs errands; spends time with his loyal, if frustrated girlfriend, Sophina (Melonie Diaz) & their adorable 4 yr. old daughter, Tatiana (Ariana Neal, wow). Since it is Oscar's mother's (stellar Octavia Spencer) birthday, he & his family attend her party. He then drops off young Tatiana at his sister-in-law's so that he, his friends, & Sophina can head into San Francisco to see the New Year's fireworks. A grim destiny ensues.
Director Ryan Coogler gives 'Fruitvale Station' a distinctively existential tone. We in the audience know how the story will end. And so, every single seemingly inconsequential action that occurs on his last day takes on a larger meaning. There is a fictitious scene in which he takes a dying dog from the street & places him on the curb {metaphor much?}. And there is an especially poignant moment where he says goodnight to his 4 yr. old daughter before leaving for the night of which he'll never return. To them in the moment, it's just another goodnight kiss. To us, it's their final farewell.
Now, for as engrossing as much of the film is, & for as strong as the performances, & for as intriguing as the Bay Area milieu is ... I did feel a tad manipulated. That scene in which Oscar says goodbye to his daughter is prolonged to a fault. It felt like a banging over the head that yes ... THIS!! is the last time they see each other. There's another scene in which Oscar befriends a white man who offers him a business card - I wonder, did this actually happen, or are we to believe that he finally got a job offer mere hours before his death? And there's a scene where Oscar helps a woman in a local supermarket. The kicker here: the same woman was in attendance with Oscar later that night in San Francisco & recorded his death on her phone. INSANE coincidence? Or emotional manipulation on the filmmakers?
Michael B. Jordan has a real presence. Jordan gives us an interesting, multi-faceted anti-hero who is neither a saint, nor a definitive sinner. He's a man who had struggled. A man who wanted to do good but may not have known how to in the heat of the moment. Melonie Diaz gives a nuanced portrayal as the loving, slightly irritated Sophina. Her line deliveries & body language felt genuine. The scenes when she was outside while Oscar was on the train platform are gut-wrenching; her inner-chaos was evident. Ariana Neal will break your heart as Oscar's daughter. And Octavia Spencer is splendid. The flashback scene where she visits Oscar when he was in San Quentin is beautifully heartbreaking. These 3 performances are instrumental in offering perspectives of the different sides of Oscar's personality.
I am giving this film a B rating. I do not think it is a knockout A, nor do I think it's an average C. It's decently made & wonderfully acted. The film evokes a tangible sense of time & place. And the staging of the climactic incident is powerful. My B rating comes in slightly below the average that most professional critics are giving this film. But I feel that the handful of 'phony' scenes take some of the lasting power away from the story. See, this true story has been well-chronicled. And the filmmakers don't lend anything particularly deep to the proceedings; with little more to say other than 'well, isn't this whole situation a damn shame'.
SPOILER: the film neglects to show us that the police officer who shot Oscar yelled (prior to his shooting): "stand back, I'm going to taze him!". At the end of the film, we are told that said officer 'claims' that he said that. Well. Yes. He DID say that. The whole debacle appeared to be an accident, and not fueled by racial hate (explicitly). The film almost leads us to believe that it was squarely a racially-charged. It may have been, it may not have been. But the fact remains, this nugget of information was kept from us in this film. END SPOILER. I just felt a little mislead.
I left the theater shaken, but not stirred. Not devastated. And I think that's a tribute to the depiction of Oscar as such a 'good guy'. That's fine. I'm sure he had many redeeming qualities. But as seen in this film, with many facets of him smashed-in to one day ... I don't feel that it was all so accurate. Oscar Grant did not deserve to die. He is painted as a troubled young man who sold drugs, landed in prison at an early age & may have cheated on his girlfriend. But he's also depicted as a nice guy who helps people out, loved his mother & grandmother enormously, and was trying to get his life on track for his girlfriend & daughter. I just feel like there could have been more to his story that we did not see. More discussion on race issues; and less shallow, emotional manipulation. Good film, but flawed.