It begins by showing the end.
On New Years Day 2009, Oscar Grant III and a few friends are detained at the Fruitvale BART Station by Transit Officers. Things go wrong real fast and Oscar is shot and killed by an Officer.
The day before, as documented by first-time writer/director Ryan Coogler, Grant (Michael B. Jordan) is just trying to get by. He's trying to find a job, send his daughter to school and maintain his relationships with his friends and family.
Knowing the end and how close to it might put some people off. So what makes this work?
As Oscar, Michael B. Jordan is in pretty much every scene. He has a short temper, but he's trying so hard to make better. We can see how he loves and is loved by his friends and family. Overall, he's a likable man and his loss is tragic and the circumstances of it are terrible.
His supporting cast, including Octavia Spencer as his mother Wanda, are all likable people as well. They feel like friends as much as characters.
At a very short 84 minutes, editors Claudia Castello and Michael P. Shawver keep it going. It's felt especially at the scenes around BART, even before the incident happens. Even opening the film with the actual cell-phone footage was enough to intensify the film.
Fruitvale Station works because despite being an "Oscar" film, it's not trying painfully hard. Instead, it's just about real people, the sort one might like to know better. Or wish we knew.
Just don't go to the film emotionally unprepared.
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