Fruitvale Station

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  • #16
    Re: Fruitvale Station

    I wonder if someone might do a Clint Eastwood "Flags of Our Fathers"/"Letters from Iwo Jima" thing and tell the same story from the perspective of the transit cop.

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    • #17
      Re: Fruitvale Station

      Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
      I didn't get any sense that Oscar was on the verge of turning it all around in one day. He tried to get his job back, and was told no. The dude giving him the business card was for some kind of tech company, and not in any way offering him another job (that I recall). He was just living his life day to day, like most of us do. I thought the movie fairly portrayed him as neither sinner nor saint.
      Interesting. You didn't find dumping the weed into the ocean to be a bit in your face? And the guy with business card, I just assumed that was supposed to imply that Oscar might end up working for him. If I'm wrong about that then what was the point of that scene? Either way, as I said above this is only a small complaint. I really enjoyed this film.

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      • #18
        Re: Fruitvale Station

        Originally posted by nealm View Post
        Interesting. You didn't find dumping the weed into the ocean to be a bit in your face? And the guy with business card, I just assumed that was supposed to imply that Oscar might end up working for him. If I'm wrong about that then what was the point of that scene? Either way, as I said above this is only a small complaint. I really enjoyed this film.
        I don't know what you mean by "in your face." It was a choice he made. But he only got to that point because he had been selling weed on the side in the first place, which you could argue wasn't the smartest choice. And it made sense to me because we saw the flashback to his rough time in prison.

        As I recall the conversation with the guy on the street while they were waiting for their girlfriends to come back from the bathroom, the guy's story was that he had been at his lowest point only a few months (?) ago, but now he had a successful business and his wife was pregnant. So that even if Oscar might have been despairing where he was going to find a new job or where the rent money was going to come from, the other man's experience could give him a measure of hope that something would work out in the end.

        But their encounter also worked as an effective contrast to the subsequent confrontation between Oscar and the BART cops on the platform, where a white guy and a black guy can make idle chit chat while they stand on the sidewalk and it can be free of all the weight of race and prejudice that too many other encounters between blacks and whites have the potential to devolve into.

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        • #19
          Re: Fruitvale Station

          Originally posted by Signal30 View Post
          Haven't seen the movie yet, but I'll assume that the filmmaker wasn't overtly trying to rehabilitate his rep, but was going more for the implication that the young dude lost his shot of a whole life ahead of him to "perhaps" have that epiphany.
          Haven't seen it either but I heard an interview with the director and you pretty much nailed it. Check it out:

          http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tt/...oogler_fruitva
          "I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray." - Prince

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          • #20
            Re: Fruitvale Station

            Originally posted by JoeBanks View Post
            I don't know what you mean by "in your face." It was a choice he made. But he only got to that point because he had been selling weed on the side in the first place, which you could argue wasn't the smartest choice. And it made sense to me because we saw the flashback to his rough time in prison.

            As I recall the conversation with the guy on the street while they were waiting for their girlfriends to come back from the bathroom, the guy's story was that he had been at his lowest point only a few months (?) ago, but now he had a successful business and his wife was pregnant. So that even if Oscar might have been despairing where he was going to find a new job or where the rent money was going to come from, the other man's experience could give him a measure of hope that something would work out in the end.

            But their encounter also worked as an effective contrast to the subsequent confrontation between Oscar and the BART cops on the platform, where a white guy and a black guy can make idle chit chat while they stand on the sidewalk and it can be free of all the weight of race and prejudice that too many other encounters between blacks and whites have the potential to devolve into.
            Hmm. I hadn't looked at the conversation with the white guy like that. I suppose you could be right. I don't know. I still feel as though the "Look! He was right on the verge of turning it all around" angle was a bit heavy handed, and entirely unnecessary to win my own personal sympathy for this kid. But whatever. Still a great movie.

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            • #21
              Re: Fruitvale Station

              Originally posted by emily blake View Post
              I thought he meant the film won't be forgotten because, sadly, George Zimmerman made the film all the more relevant to us all.

              Please do not get into politics here. Thank you.

              When I saw the trailer I thought it's going to be hard for me to see this because of the Zimmerman case. Still reeling from that ridiculous verdict.

              Re: politics. I don't think a discussion of race issues is political. It's a social issue deeply ingrained. I think as a society, we -- the citizens, the non-politicians, the people who make up juries -- have to resolve them.

              ETA: This is an interesting case, too.
              Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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              • #22
                Re: Fruitvale Station

                Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                ETA: This is an interesting case, too.
                And completely NOT the same thing. Read the court documents.

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                • #23
                  Re: Fruitvale Station

                  Originally posted by Richmond Weems View Post
                  And completely NOT the same thing. Read the court documents.
                  I didn't say it was the same thing. I said: interesting.
                  Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Fruitvale Station

                    Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                    I didn't say it was the same thing. I said: interesting.
                    "Interesting" is not the right word for this. "Untrue" or "exaggerated" or "lack of in-depth reporting by news organizations who seem to have forgotten basic journalistic duties" is a better word for it.

                    If you really want to link to something "interesting", this is the one you should link to:

                    http://www.tampabay.com/news/publics...ing-on/1233133

                    It's a stupid law, and that's all I'll say about it 'cause we're about three more posts to having this thread shut down.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Fruitvale Station

                      I can't wait to check this out. I've been a fan of Michael B. Jordan for years. He's such a talented guy and I knew he'd be a huge star some day. Between an Oscar nom for this (which he's a sure fire bet on), and a mainstream hit with Creed (rumored, but actually sounds cool)...he's on track to be a powerhouse within the next couple years, no doubt.

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                      • #26
                        Fruitvile Station; GZ verdict, Florida....

                        I don't know much about the new film Frutvile Station. I know the title was changed & the producers/studio wanted to play up the drama of the events.

                        As for the GZ verdict, I wouldn't call it; "ridiculous".
                        The outcry & public outrage(mostly driven by inaccurate media reports & speculation) pushed for a special FL prosecutor(which they got), a arrest & formal criminal charges of George Zimmerman(which they got) and a criminal trial in a court of law(which they got).
                        Like it or not, GZ was tried by a jury of his peers and they found him: not guilty.
                        Treyvon Martin's estate(parents) got a $1,000,000.00 settlement from the Sanford HOA(which never seems to come up in the media ). They also got the Sanford FL police chief fired & made the state/county governments(tax payers) pay nearly $350,000.00 to have the trial.

                        Beef
                        I'd rather get bank credit, than screen credit.

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                        • #27
                          Re: Fruitvale Station

                          Best film I've seen this year. Deeply moving, poignant, powerful. Still thinking about it days later. Astonishing performances, especially by Jordan, Spencer and Diaz.

                          Nealm, I understand your point but I must respectfully disagree. I do not think that the director's goal was to romanticize Oscar Grant or turn him into a hero. I think his intention was to show him as a guy. A young guy with flaws, with a quick temper, someone who had made mistakes in his life. But also a young man with a family who loved him, friends who cared about him, a young daughter he doted on, a girlfriend. A guy who was struggling to get by. A guy with a heart. A guy who spent New Years Eve the way a lot of us do, having dinner with family and then wanting to get a little crazy and see fireworks. A guy who did not deserve to be shot in the back while lying face down, handcuffed, on a dirty train platform. There are those who would take one look at him and make a snap judgment: punk, unemployed, prison record. Sadly, that was how the BART cops saw him.

                          Maybe the film has too much resonance for me since I live in the Bay Area and the Oscar Grant murder has been an open wound here that has yet to heal. I appreciate the director's approach to the story. The final tragic scenes on the BART platform were brilliantly filmed, capturing the chaos and the horror. There were plenty of witnesses and cell phone videos of the incident -- those videos were analyzed in the media and at the trial like the Zapruder tape.

                          Still, the director could have chosen to go overboard and demonize those BART cops, but he refrained from doing that. He did not even name the BART cop who murdered Oscar Grant in the credits (although his name is well known.)

                          I really hope people turn out to see this film. Interesting that the Weinstein Company released it in summer rather than late fall when it would certainly get award attention. I hope it is still remembered then.

                          Late Night Writer

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                          • #28
                            Re: Fruitvile Station; GZ verdict, Florida....

                            Originally posted by BeefMissile View Post
                            I don't know much about the new film Frutvile Station. I know the title was changed & the producers/studio wanted to play up the drama of the events.

                            As for the GZ verdict, I wouldn't call it; "ridiculous".
                            The outcry & public outrage(mostly driven by inaccurate media reports & speculation) pushed for a special FL prosecutor(which they got), a arrest & formal criminal charges of George Zimmerman(which they got) and a criminal trial in a court of law(which they got).
                            Like it or not, GZ was tried by a jury of his peers and they found him: not guilty.
                            Treyvon Martin's estate(parents) got a $1,000,000.00 settlement from the Sanford HOA(which never seems to come up in the media ). They also got the Sanford FL police chief fired & made the state/county governments(tax payers) pay nearly $350,000.00 to have the trial.

                            Beef
                            A boy's dead because of social prejudice, paranoia and a bad law. Is that justice, regardless of the money?
                            "A screenwriter is much like being a fire hydrant with a bunch of dogs lined up around it.- -Frank Miller

                            "A real writer doesn't just want to write; a real writer has to write." -Alan Moore

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                            • #29
                              Re: Fruitvale Station

                              And we're down to one more post before locked status.

                              I may not have helped with my previous (but interesting) post, but maybe we should take this particular discussion offline, keep this one focused on the movie.

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                              • #30
                                Re: Fruitvale Station

                                Keep the posts focused on the movie. I thought it was well done. But not an extraordinary film. Soderburgh's, Spike Lee's, The Hughes Brothers and etcs. debuts below me away. This film handled the subject matter well, but wasn't spectacular.

                                Coogler is talented but I expect better from his next film. I'm glad this is getting Michael B. Jordan tons of attention, he's been underrated for years. Wallace has come a long way.

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