The film debuted under its original title, Fruitvale, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival,[5] where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film,[6] and was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the award for Best First Film. It received critical acclaim, and was released in theaters on July 12, 2013,[7] grossing over $17 million against its $900,000 budget.
Plot
The film depicts the last day of the life of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old from Hayward, California, before he was fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning hours of January 1, 2009. It begins with actual footage of Oscar and his friends being detained by BART Police at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on January 1, 2009, at 2:15 a.m., right before the shooting.
Oscar and his girlfriend Sophina argue about Grant's recent infidelity. He unsuccessfully attempts to get his job back at Farmer Joe's, a grocery store. He briefly considers returning to dealing marijuana, but instead decides to dump his stash. In the evening, he attends a birthday party for his mother, Wanda, and agrees to take the BART train to see fireworks and other New Year's festivities in San Francisco, since she worries about him driving.
On the return train, Katie, a customer at the grocery store where Oscar used to work, recognizes him and calls out his name. This causes a man Oscar knew in prison to notice him, and a fight breaks out. BART police respond to the scene, and Oscar is among the passengers who are detained. While being restrained by officers Caruso and Ingram, Oscar is shot in the back by Ingram. A stunned Caruso demands to know what happened. Oscar is rushed to the hospital and dies just hours after undergoing emergency surgery.
Onscreen text describes the aftermath: Oscar's killing sparked a series of protests and riots across the city after several witnesses recorded the incident with cellphones and video cameras. The BART officers involved were fired, and "Ingram" (the officers' names were changed) was later tried and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, claiming he mistook his gun for his Taser, and served an 11-month sentence. The final footage is of a gathering of people celebrating Oscar's life on January 1, 2013, with Grant's daughter, Tatiana, among them.
Oscar Grant's real-life mother, Wanda Johnson, has a small role in the film as Mrs. Stacy, Tatiana's preschool teacher.
Production
Development
Ryan Coogler was a graduate student at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts when Grant was shot on January 1, 2009. Coogler expressed his desire to make a film about Grant's last day: "I wanted the audience to get to know this guy, to get attached, so that when the situation that happens to him happens, it's not just like you read it in the paper, you know what I mean? When you know somebody as a human being, you know that life means something." Coogler met the Grant family's attorney, John Burris, through a mutual friend, and also met with and worked with Grant's family.[8]
In January 2011, Forest Whitaker's production company was looking for new young filmmakers to mentor. Coogler met the Head of Production Nina Yang Bongiovi and showed her his projects. He soon had a meeting with Whitaker, who supported Fruitvale.[9][10] Coogler met with advisers of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and developed the script with the help of creative advisors Tyger Williams, Jessie Nelson and Zach Sklar.[11] The film received funding from the Feature Film Program (FFP)[11] and the San Francisco Film Society.[9]
Coogler had Michael B. Jordan in mind to play Grant before writing the script.[10] In April 2012, Jordan and Octavia Spencer joined the cast.[12] Spencer also received a co-executive producer credit as she directly participated in funding the film and contacted investors when a deal was lost during the filming.[13] Notable investors included Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, a bestselling novel adapted as a successful film, for which Spencer won an Oscar.[14] In April 2012, Hannah Beachler signed on as the film's production designer.[15]
Filming
Fruitvale Station was shot in Oakland, California,[8] for 20 days in July 2012.[16] Scenes were shot at and around the Bay Area Rapid Transit platform where Grant was killed.[17] BART agreed to let the crew film at Fruitvale station for three four-hour nights. Most of the platform scenes were shot over the course of two nights (with another night dedicated to the sequences on the train that led up to the police confrontation).[18]San Quentin State Prison served as a filming location for a flashback scene with prisoners featured as extras.[19] The film was shot in Super 16 mm format using Arriflex 416 cameras and Zeiss Ultra 16 lenses.[20]
The film includes actual amateur footage of the shooting, which Coogler initially did not want to use:
I didn't want any real footage in the film. But you sometimes have to take a step back. Being from the Bay Area, I knew that footage like the back of my hand, but more people from around the world had no idea about this story. It made sense for them to see that footage and see what happened to Oscar, and I think it was a responsibility that we had to put that out there.[18]
Ryan and I talked a lot about how sound design was going to have a huge role in the movie and very early on I got sent the actual sound recordings of the BART train. I manipulated the train sound and made it almost feel like a dark ambient synth sound and I used it almost throughout the whole BART platform scene. The other element in the score is lots of layered and manipulated guitars sounding almost like haunting pads.[22]
Coogler added:
One thing that we always wanted to be conscious of with the score was to make sure that it always felt organic. A lot of the film would play without score, so Ludwig made sure that whenever we brought score in came out of sounds in the environment.[22]
A soundtrack album, Fruitvale Station: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, was released through Lakeshore Records, digitally on September 24, 2013, and on CD on October 15.[22]
The Weinstein Company commissioned three murals to be painted in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco by street artists Ron English, Lydia Emily, and LNY in anticipation of the film.[24]
Some people questioned the decision to have a poster for the film in the actual Fruitvale Station, but a BART spokeswoman said:
There was no debate whether to allow Fruitvale Station [advertisements] on BART. None whatsoever. We really support Ryan. He's just an amazing person ... I think that Ryan had said it was his intention to show his love for Oakland and the people of Oakland, and he really succeeded.[25]
Promotional material used on the film's Facebook page and website referred to the controversial killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida, which was in the news at the time of the film's release.[26] This drew some criticism, with publicist Angie Meyer stating: "It's absolutely inappropriate and morally wrong to use a high-profile case to create publicity and buzz around a movie release."[27]
As part of its film promotion, the Weinstein Co. set up the "I am __" campaign to encourage people to share stories of overcoming acts of social injustice or mistreatment, and to upload photos or other artworks related to those experiences.[28]
Fruitvale Station was made available in Digital HD via Anchor Bay on December 31, 2013.[36]DVD and Blu-ray combo packs were released on January 14, 2014.[37]
Reception
Box office
The film grossed an estimated $127,445 on the first day of its limited theatrical release[38] and ended the weekend with a gross of $377,285 from seven theaters, for a per-theater average of $53,898.[39] This was the third-highest opening of the year for a film in limited release (behind Spring Breakers and The Place Beyond the Pines),[40] and one of the best openings for a Sundance festival top prize winner.[41] A week after its debut, Fruitvale Station expanded to 35 theaters and earned $742,272, for a $21,832 per-screen average.[42]
On July 26, the film opened nationwide in more than 1,000 locations.[43][44] It ranked #10 at the weekend box office, earning $4.59 million.[45] In total, the film has grossed $16,101,339 in the United States and $1,284,491 elsewhere, for a worldwide box office total of $17,385,830.[3]
Critical reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 216 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average score of 8.1/10; the site's "critics consensus" states: "Passionate and powerfully acted, Fruitvale Station serves as a celebration of life, a condemnation of death, and a triumph for star Michael B. Jordan."[46] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on reviews from 46 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[47] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A on an A+ to F scale.[48]
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a compelling debut" and "a powerful dramatic feature film". He also praised the lead performances, writing that, "As Oscar, Jordan at moments gives off vibes of a very young Denzel Washington in the way he combines gentleness and toughness; he effortlessly draws the viewer in toward him. Diaz is vibrant as his patient and loyal girlfriend, while Spencer brings her gravitas to the proceedings as his stalwart mother."[49]
Writing for The Village Voice, chief film critic Stephanie Zacharek called Fruitvale Station "a restrained but forceful picture that captures some of the texture and detail of one human life", and praised Coogler, writing that he "dramatizes Oscar's last day by choosing not to dramatize it: The events unfold casually, without any particular scheme. And yet because we know how this story will end, there's a shivery, understated tension running beneath."[50]
In his Sundance festival wrap-up, critic Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote of the film: "Made with assurance and quiet emotion, this unexpectedly devastating drama based on the real life 2009 shooting of an unarmed young black man at an Oakland Fruitvale Station of BART (San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System - Fruitvale Station) impressed everyone as the work of an exceptional filmmaker."[51]
In a more mixed review, Geoff Berkshire of Variety called the film "a well-intentioned attempt to put a human face on the tragic headlines surrounding Oscar Grant." He praised Jordan's performance, but critiqued the "relentlessly positive portrayal" of the film's subject, saying: "Best viewed as an ode to victim's rights, Fruitvale forgoes nuanced drama for heart-tugging, head-shaking and rabble-rousing."[4]
In a negative New York Post review and a subsequent opinion piece in Forbes, Kyle Smith accused Coogler of omitting key information from the film and fabricating scenes in order to manipulate viewers and give a distorted impression of the depicted events.[52][53]
The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2013:[54]
Ryan Coogler accepts the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic with the crew at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt praised the film as the "best film" of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival,[56] and singer Billie Eilish has stated that it is her favorite film four years in a row in her annual Vanity Fair interview.[57]
