Watch for this one to be on everyone’s shortlist come awards season. Fruitvale Station is writer/director Ryan Coogler’s first feature film and, by all accounts, he’s hit one out of the ballpark with this intense drama based on a true story.
Starring Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Ariana Neal, and Melonie Diaz, The Weinstein Company will be opening Fruitvale Station in theaters in July.
The Plot:
Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, writer/director Ryan Coogler’s FRUITVALE STATION follows the true story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother (Octavia Spencer), whose birthday falls on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz), who he hasn’t been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to Tatiana (Ariana Neal), their beautiful four-year-old daughter.
Crossing paths with friends, family, and strangers, Oscar starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easily. His resolve takes a tragic turn, however, when BART officers shoot him in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Year’s Day. Oscar’s life and tragic death would shake the Bay Area – and the entire nation – to its very core.
Watch the trailer:
