MEOW!
Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz
Rating: 9.5/10
The Good: Wow. I mean...Holy Moses. Writing that it's so far one of the year's best films would honestly sound like faint praise. How Coogler presents Oscar Grant's story feels extraordinary yet real: there's a consistently authentic and believable tone, absolutely phenomenal performances from the entire ensemble, and a final act that will leave many heartbroken and spellbound simultaneously. So far, it's one of the most rewarding cinematic experiences I've had this year.
The Bad: As much as I believe it's one of the best films of the year so far, I wouldn't watch it casually unlike other films of great artistic ambition. However, if a couple of my friends asked if I wanted to watch it with them, I would certainly watch it again.
The Ugly: None.
THE EVALUATION:
Every once in a while, you come across a film with one scene that takes you back to a memory, whether it is good, bad, or incredibly personal. In the case of one scene in Fruitvale Station's extraordinary and heartbreaking final act, it brought me back to an evening that has remained in my heart to this day. It revolves around a man who, throughout most of my existence, taught me to find humanity in everyone that I meet, which is the main theme surrounding what I consider to be one of the most rewarding cinematic experiences I've ever had at the movies.
Written below is that memory...
On the evening of November 11th, 2011, I was waiting with my mother, sister, a few of my relatives and my former church pastor in a room at Rockville Hospital, praying that my father, Joseph Michael Connolly, would get better as the hours slowly pass us by. As 11:11 came around--the time when everyone would be making a wish on 11/11/11--there was nothing that we would've wished for more than for Dad to get better just in time for the holidays. Within the early morning hours of November 12th, despite praying as hard as we could, he never made it through the night. Although I didn't know what to feel at the time, I witnessed everyone around me bawling over the loss of someone that made an astonishing impact in their lives (It wasn't until late into the night of November 13th when I was crying in my bedroom; I was thinking heavily about the last number in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown--the last production that my father was partially responsible for--and how it was exceptionally performed by veterans of the East Hartford Summer Youth Festival. It was an emotionally draining weekend that eventually led me to what I now perceive life to be, and all it took was a little happiness to figure that out...)
With the exception of a few differences (my father died around 2 A.M. in the morning while Oscar Grant died a little after sunrise), what is depicted near the end of Fruitvale Station is ninety-eight percent similar to what everyone was going through the night my father passed away. The waiting? Same. The feeling of eternity is successfully captured despite everyone in the audience knowing the outcome within the first minute. The praying? Same. What is being said are almost the exact words that we prayed for my father that night. The pain? Same. Some don't express it as much as others, while it's obvious everyone feels it inside their broken hearts. There are no sugar-coated moments, no melodramatic cheese, no performance that feels flashy or forced, no overly emotional score that demands you to feel the correct emotions--just a few members of his family and a couple of his friends doing everything they could for the person that they love to get better, until they receive the news that would inevitably send them into a prolonged state of grief. There's no doubt that I've been where they've been; it's the most authentic account I've ever seen of keeping the faith alive, only to eventually be shot in the chest by reality's worst nightmare.
As for the rest of the film, if there ever was something to successfully raise its voice on equality, Fruitvale Station has raised its own on a universal scale. Whether everything presented is one-hundred percent accurate remains to be entirely known (it probably isn't. Nowadays, it's the amount of believability, dedication and respect you give to its subject matter that...well...matters). What I can open up to is that Coogler presents Oscar in a manner where it allows many to feel as if he's the equivalent to one of their own, which makes the message of equality all the more strong-hearted. As much as Oscar is yearning to do good for the rest of his life, he still has anger issues that he's attempting to control, he tries to recover from getting fired after making too many mistakes, and he has inner demons that force him to think about his own troubled past. All of that certainly sounds like cliches that were taken from past true stories, but the details Coogler provides in Oscar's tale make all the difference in the world. Some include when Oscar is picking up his daughter at school, when he and his family are at his mother's house for her birthday party, and especially any moment during the final act. It's a testament to Coogler's eye for detail as both a writer and director; we're able to open ourselves up to Grant as if we knew him like one of our own.
It's also a testament to the outstanding ensemble cast, where everyone involved supports the believable and realistic tone Coogler is going for. There are two stand-outs that instantly come to mind: I enjoyed Michael B. Jordan's performance greatly in the under-appreciated Chronicle, but with this film, his performance will leave one blown away. He not only gives the performance of his career so far, but he also gives one of the most natural performances I've ever seen in a film. He treats Oscar with the utmost respect in every scene he's in, and leaves an exceptional impression once the final act is over. If the word 'justice' was in my movies + entertainment dictionary, it would be followed by "Michael B. Jordan will receive a nomination and possibly win come Oscar time" as one of the definitions. Then there's Octavia Spencer as Oscar's mother Wanda, who is partially responsible for gracefully bringing me back to that night almost a couple of years ago. If another definition was to link with the word 'justice,' it would be "Octavia Spencer will win another Oscar. The end." The amount of heartbreak that is expressed on her face when she sees her son dead in the emergency room will have people feeling emotional and spellbound simultaneously. It's a masterful performance that is, without question, the best performance of the year so far, and one of the best performances within the past decade.
As exceptional as Fruitvale Station is, and while I believe it's one of the most rewarding cinematic experiences I've had in years, I'll admit that it's not a film I would watch casually; it's the equivalent of someone you hold close to your heart being taken away from you much too soon (I'm not sure how my mother would handle the final act, especially since Wanda's reaction to her son passing away is as similar to hers when my father died). That being said, if a couple of my friends hadn't seen it yet, and asked if I wanted to watch it with them, I'd certainly watch it again without any reservations. That way, as soon as the credits have officially reached their end, I'd strike up a conversation about how my father was able to make more than sixteen years of my life one extraordinary journey. And perhaps, after watching it for the first time, they will be able to share their past experiences about someone who had changed their lives for the better as well. Who knows?
Yeah...who really knows, anyway?
THE VERDICT
A life is filled with many stories that are worth sharing to others. Fruitvale Station is, of all things, a story, and this particular story--no matter how tragic the outcome is at the end--could help others cope with their own personal losses if they are open to reminiscing about them. Then they'd come to realize that, while life is a road of occasional anger and sadness, it can also be a road of occasional hope and understanding as well. For my money, there's no greater lesson in life than that. This is a film that deserves to be seen, and in my opinion, it deserves to be one of the year's best films.
R.I.P. Oscar Grant. And as always, R.I.P. Joseph Michael Connolly.
Until next time,
MEOW!
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