Worth seeing for its harrowing final act and for Michael B. Jordan's performance, "Fruitvale Station" is a strong effort with good intentions. My issue is that I wish Ryan Coogler trusted the material more. I'll explain:
The film opens with the real footage from that fateful night, setting the stakes for the rest of the film. But then it takes us through an average day in the life, and throws in events to emotionally manipulate the audience. If the other point of the movie (besides depicting the murder) was to have us get to know Oscar Grant, I would have MUCH rather seen events throughout his life, good and bad. Maybe even scenes played by a child actor. But it would mean more to me to see his life, then to see how he spends a collection of 70 minutes on one random day leading up to that night.
The incident with the dog, and the weed, and his encounters with others that day are fabricated. And sure, other films do this all of the time. But Oscar Grant's story was worth telling on its own, without any fabrication. His fate is TRAGIC, and we didn't need any embellishment. I also was very turned off by the actress playing his girlfriend, who was a major distraction. Octavia Spencer was solid as always, but some of the other supporting characters were weak.
Of course, I'm more angered by the real-life events than I am the movie. But I come here to rate films, and I think a 7/10 is right in line with how I feel. It does wonders with its sub-$1MM budget, but is no masterwork, and could have felt stronger as an expanded film about his life, or a short film about that event only.
The film opens with the real footage from that fateful night, setting the stakes for the rest of the film. But then it takes us through an average day in the life, and throws in events to emotionally manipulate the audience. If the other point of the movie (besides depicting the murder) was to have us get to know Oscar Grant, I would have MUCH rather seen events throughout his life, good and bad. Maybe even scenes played by a child actor. But it would mean more to me to see his life, then to see how he spends a collection of 70 minutes on one random day leading up to that night.
The incident with the dog, and the weed, and his encounters with others that day are fabricated. And sure, other films do this all of the time. But Oscar Grant's story was worth telling on its own, without any fabrication. His fate is TRAGIC, and we didn't need any embellishment. I also was very turned off by the actress playing his girlfriend, who was a major distraction. Octavia Spencer was solid as always, but some of the other supporting characters were weak.
Of course, I'm more angered by the real-life events than I am the movie. But I come here to rate films, and I think a 7/10 is right in line with how I feel. It does wonders with its sub-$1MM budget, but is no masterwork, and could have felt stronger as an expanded film about his life, or a short film about that event only.