FRUITVALE STATION DVD MOVIE

Jordan brings an undeniable charisma to the screen, but he is also as natural in front of the camera as Coogler needs him to be. One doesn't get the sense that he's trying too hard to scrub up the man's image. As with anybody, he wasn't all good or all bad, he was just a regular person.Ĭoogler attempts to emphasize just how regular throughout his telling. He wasn't always the best boyfriend, but was generally courteous and helpful. Despite past mistakes, Oscar was a good son and father. Oscar spends part of the day planning for her party, which then would roll into the night on the town with his significant other (Melonie Diaz, Be Kind Rewind). December 31 was also the birthday of Oscar's mother (Octavia Spencer, who served as a producer, as well). Not that Fruitvale Station focuses entirely on the less happy aspects of the day. Oscar was trying to stay on the straight and narrow and not fall back into slinging dope, even though that would be a quick and easy solution. Having recently lost his job at a grocery store, the unmarried father was facing some tough choices in order to keep feeding his little girl, as well as helping out his extended family when he could. As shown in the film, Oscar was in a difficult bind. Jordan ( The Wire), who attempts to portray the man in all his humanity, negatives included. Coogler's movie, which he wrote and directed, pieces together Oscar's last day. Ryan Coogler's 2013 docudrama Fruitvale Station begins with that cell phone footage before backing up to the prior morning. Right up to the point when one of the guards fatally shot Oscar, who was face down on the concrete, in the back. Onlookers protested the harsh treatment of the men, all African Americans in their early 20s, and many recorded it on their cell phones. An altercation occurred, and while the other half of the fight, all white, managed to get away before security arrived, Oscar and his group were pulled from the train and detained by BART police. Just as the train pulled into Fruitvale Station, Oscar was spotted by some people he had a beef with from time he had spent in jail. On January 1, 2009, Oscar Grant III was taking the BART train from San Francisco to his home in Oakland, CA, returning with a group of friends, including his girlfriend, from New Year's Eve festivities across the way. And Melonie Diaz is a treasure as the girlfriend who also shares the hope that the next year will be their best year.Please Note: The stills used here are taken from promotional materials and other sources, not the Blu-ray edition under review. Spencer delivers another Oscar-worthy performance as the long-suffering mother who sees the light in her son’s eyes on that New Year’s Eve day.

The entire cast, beyond Jordan, is astounding. If you missed it in theaters, now is your chance with it out on DVD and Blu-Ray, to experience one of the true miracles of the movies.

FRUITVALE STATION DVD MOVIE

But, given the promise of the day that is New Year’s Eve, the viewer truly believes - through Jordan’s stellar work - that this is a man who will make the next year much better than the last.Īs we stated in our theatrical Fruitvale Station review, the movie is an important work that is a must-see if there ever was one. Jordan gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Grant, and through the actor’s innate talents, we feel for the man who hasn’t always made the best decisions in life. He never saw that promise reach fruition because while out with friends on New Year’s Eve, he would perish at the titular train stop after an officer shot him in the back. Unlike many other people who begin their New Year’s resolutions on the morning of January 1, Grant awoke that day to make a firm commitment to becoming a better person, boyfriend, father and son to his mother (Octavia Spencer). The film tells the story of Oscar Grant, a young man who was gunned down by an Oakland transit officer on New Year’s Eve.

Fruitvale station dvd