Fruitvale Station (2013)

Directed by Ryan Coogler. Starring Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Ariana Neal, Ahna O’Reilly, Kevin Durand, Trestin George, Thomas Wright, Keegan Coogler, Joey Oglesby. [R]

The final day in the life of Oscar Grant (Jordan), a young black man who was shot and killed by police in an Oakland train station during the early morning hours of New Years Day 2009. The tragic true story is brought to vivid and painful life in Coogler’s feature directorial debut, which opens with real footage of the incident before tracing back to the previous morning and witnessing Oscar go about his life with his friends, his mom (Spencer), his longtime girlfriend (Diaz), his young child (Neal), and so on. Though the deck is stacked in casting a sympathetic light on him whenever possible, the script (also by Coogler) never lets the tone become too reverent; there’s too much underlying dread for such comforts, especially once he boards the train. By letting the actions play out in a realistic fashion, and giving us an intimate glimpse into Oscar’s world, the representative token behind the sensationalist story (and sad statistic) becomes a real person. Jordan’s breakout performance is completely credible, making for a flawed but approachable protagonist with a dark cloud looming unseen over his head.

82/100