Fruitvale Station Movie Reviews

The disheartening trend of according significant films a limited release continues with this docudrama. Fruitvale Station recreates the last day in the life of a 22-year-old African-American. Melonie Diaz who portrays his girlfriend and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer as his mother are very good but it is Michael B Jordan’s virtuoso performance that forms the core of the film. A film that deserves a wide audience.

Fruitvale Station doesn’t stridently point fingers or offer any comfort. It depicts an awful tragedy with restraint and power. I’m going with four stars and recommending that you see it.

The film’s early half is a little too schmaltzy, crammed as it is with too many scenes that point to Oscar’s kind heart and potential that sadly couldn’t be fully realized. It’s meant to make the gut punch of the film’s climax that much harder. But it doesn’t matter, because the first-rate acting, and the knowledge that this actually happened makes this a deeply moving film. I’m going with three-and-a-half out of five for ‘Fruitvale Station’. It’s a story that deserved to be told, because it’s an issue that refuses to go away.

‘Fruitvale Station’ won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance this year, and it is quite obvious why. The film is not just well made but also an important one. It’s also not a film as much as it is a heartfelt paean for the utter lack of justice in the world.

The pace of the film is superb. Every conversation, every phone call, every flashback serves to raise the tension that will explode at the climax of the film.