From there, he heads out to party, the train rolls into Fruitvale, and the rest is history.Ĭoogler deliberately sets about creating, in Oscar, a relatable, likeable and flawed protagonist. Strapped for cash, Oscar considers selling weed to a friend but thinks better of it, before heading to his mother’s house. While there, he also attempts to regain his job – he’s been fired for persistent lateness – but his ex-boss is having none of it. Oscar heads to the supermarket to pick up some crabs for a birthday party for his mother ( Octavia Spencer). The rest of the day proceeds in an unremarkable but episodic and elegantly paced manner: a catalogue of minor everyday struggles for a man aiming to get his life on track. They soon make up, so Oscar drives her to work, and their four-year-old daughter Tatiana ( Ariana Neal, adorable) to preschool.
We first encounter him having a heated discussion with his girlfriend Sophina ( Melonie Diaz), who suspects him of infidelity. Jordan, whose multilayered performance oozes everyman charisma the actor’s twitchy yet robust physicality and earnest, deep-pool eyes make for a consistently arresting point of contrast in the character. The use of such media in both films immediately establishes the spectre of profound institutional malaise that will haunt the forthcoming narrative.Īfter its shocking opening, Fruitvale Station assumes the form of a fictionalised portrayal of Oscar, beginning the previous morning. The use of this disturbing footage recalls Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992), which opened with amateur video of the savage beating of unarmed black motorist Rodney King – also in California – by a group of LAPD officers. By kicking off the film in this manner, the director acknowledges the primacy of authenticity and casts a dark, foreboding shadow over everything that follows. The shooting was captured on countless camera phones and subsequently went viral – Coogler’s film opens with footage taken by one of these bystanders.
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