

Within seconds, a swirl of impromptu dancing in a subway car suddenly bursts into a fight, and police intervention in an emotional tornado leaves a dead body on the ground – all filmed by dozens of cell phones. This director is also remarkably adept at shooting the volatile dynamics of a crowd. The tenderness of the family scenes brings improbable warmth to Coogler’s twist on Dead Man Walking. Like doc scenes, some of these are too long, but the realism takes the story beyond the rapid television editing that this subject usually gets. Using close-ups sparingly, Coogler favoUrs the approach of shooting a scene by setting up the camera and filming the action in the frame as if a kitchen or a bedroom were a stage, giving us the theatrical rhythms – ordinary and explosive - in the day of a life before that life ends. The young man, newly out of prison, is dutiful to his own mother (Octavia Spencer) and grandmother, but still can’t hold a job. Jordan) through everyday emotional fireworks with his young daughter’s mother (Melonie Diaz). The no-budget drama, which opens with actual cell phone footage filmed in the station before Grant’s death, is the feature debut of writer/director Ryan Coogler. The policeman who shot Grant in the back was tried and jailed briefly for involuntary manslaughter, while other cops involved were fired. Grant’s death became a cause celebre, not least because the shooting seemed unprovoked.
#Fruitvale station full movie youtube trial
The upcoming trial of the killer of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Florida, should help market the film in the US, as should Forest Whitaker’s role as executive producer.įruitvale Station is the metro stop in Oakland (California) where 22 year-old Oscar Grant was killed after police suspected him of fighting amongst New Year’s revelers.

Most American audiences will not see the drama as fiction, while the film’s striking tactile realism will rally critics internationally. The fatalistic martyrology of a black everyman (also Sundance’s audience awardee) lacks marquee stars, but its planned US release in late July - often a time of racial tension in steamy American cities - could add seasonal heft to this festival crowd-pleaser. It was later released in theaters in July 2013.Fruitvale Station (called Fruitvale when it won the Grand Prize at Sundance earlier this year) is a foreboding doc-like day’s walk unto death, based on a senseless police shooting of a young black man in the Bay Area subway on New Year’s morning 2009.įruitvale Station takes its audience through the constant challenges to black family life – poverty, debt, crime, and the prospect that an encounter with the police can have deadly consequences. Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray and Ahna O’Reilly also star in the film along with Jordan.įruitvale Station premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury award. Jordan plays Grant, and the movie focuses on the final day of Grant’s life leading up to the fatal shooting on New Year’s Day. 1, 2009, Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a police officer at the Fruitvale station train stop in Oakland. In the film, Michael B. Written and directed by Coogler, Fruitvale Station is based on a true story. Check it out in theaters or wait until Netflix adds Black Panther later this year. Jordan also stars as Killmonger in the film with Coogler directing.

Marvel’s Black Panther just premiered in theaters and will be one of the biggest movie openings of all time. The writer, director and producer went on to direct Creed and Marvel’s new hit film Black Panther. The film was Ryan Coogler’s first feature film. Must Read: Black Panther release date on Netflixįruitvale Station is the Netflix movie of the day for Saturday, Feb.
