Fruitvale Station (2013)

The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

Director:

Ryan Coogler

Writer:

Ryan Coogler

Stars:

Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer

39 wins & 54 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael B. Jordan	...	Oscar Grant
Melonie Diaz	...	Sophina
Octavia Spencer	...	Wanda
Kevin Durand	...	Officer Caruso
Chad Michael Murray	...	Officer Ingram
Ahna O'Reilly	...	Katie
Ariana Neal	...	Tatiana
Keenan Coogler	...	Cato
Trestin George	...	Brandon
Joey Oglesby	...	Cale
Michael James	...	Carlos
Marjorie Crump-Shears	...	Grandma Bonnie (as Marjorie Shears)
Destiny Ekwueme	...	Chantay
Bianca Rodriguez III	...	Vanessa (as Bianca Rodriguez)
Julian Keyes	...	Kris

Storyline

This is the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year's Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, who he hasn't been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4 year old daughter. He starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easy. He crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each exchange showing us that there is much more to Oscar than meets the eye. But it would be his final encounter of the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar Grant.

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Plot Keywords:

gay | friendship | reference to the pittsburgh steelers | ex convict | officer | 

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Taglines:

Every step brings you closer to the edge.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, language throughout and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Pinterest

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

26 July 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fruitvale

Filming Locations:

Oakland, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$900,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$386,291, 14 July 2013, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$16,097,842, 27 October 2013

Company Credits

Production Co:

Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions, OG Project

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was selected for the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab in January 2012. It received a Time Warner Storytelling Fellowship and a Cinereach Project at Sundance Institute Grant.

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Goofs

The BART system maps inside the train cars were introduced in September 2009. All of the in-train scenes take place on December 31, 2008, and January 1, 2009.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Oscar Grant: What's your resolution?
Sophina: I'm gonna cut carbs.
Oscar Grant: Aren't you Mexican? You can't eat nothin' Grandma makes.
Sophina: It only takes 30 days to form a habit, and then it becomes second nature.
Oscar Grant: Who says that?
Sophina: Oprah.
Oscar Grant: Okay. Oprah cool now?
Sophina: What's yours?
Oscar Grant: I wanna quit selling trees.

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Connections

Referenced in Mike & Mike: Episode dated 26 February 2016 (2016)

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Soundtracks

Feelin' Myself
Written by Andre Hicks and Sean Thompson
Performed by Mac Dre
Courtesy of Get Gone Records

User Reviews

Let's hope greater exposure gets this film more intelligent reviews

I don't usually bother writing reviews, but this is a good little film that I feel has been unfairly maligned by a few uninformed reviewers here, so I'll add my two cents:

Fruitvale Station is a solid film, well paced and edited, with a strong lead performance by Michael B. Jordan and some standout work by Octavia Spencer. The sound design is particularly noteworthy. The cinema verite camera-work (No, "M. Brand," the visual style here was a choice; well made student films, even cheap ones, generally look better than this) left me underwhelmed for most of the film (and honestly, the mistimed focus pulls were pretty distracting) but paid off big time in the Fruitvale sequence. There the cinematography, editing, sound design, and score combined to create the most gripping ten minutes of film I've seen in a year. I'd recommend Fruitvale on the strength of this sequence alone.

Ryan Coogler admittedly takes some dramatic license with the story. Some of it (the Katie character) works, some (the bit with the dog) comes off heavy-handed. None of it gave me any reason to question the film's "fidelity" to the facts. The unfettered access to Oscar's family, legal documents from the criminal and civil case (including all the video taken on the scene), and the tacit approval of BART (They were allowed to film on the actual BART platform and in their cars!) gives me no reason to believe this film takes any more narrative license with the facts of the Fruitvale incident than many documentaries would.

The film is not perfect. Some of the performances are subpar, some of the improvised dialogue bumps, and the day-in-the-life conceit, while not ignoring Oscar's spotty past, does paint him in an unrealistically rosy light. But by and large this is a moving, gripping, at times infuriating film that will stick with you after the credits roll. Congratulations to Coogler and his team.

**As for the troll who called this film "socially irresponsible," your opinion and the reasoning behind it are so abhorrent I struggle to imagine any person, no matter how ignorant or loathsome they might be, taking you seriously.