Month: June 2014

FRUITVALE STATION (2013)

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What is the job of the street police?
Who do they really work for?
Isn’t it meant to be the community?
To protect and serve.
Who?
If they are only protecting certain citizen’s rights and massively neglecting others, how can we let it continue?
It is a big issue, of course, but when things like this happen, questions must be asked.

Films like this need to be seen. We should learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. Art is a way of showing us our shortcomings and through the experience of it, hopefully we grow and learn.
This is why art is so important, nay imperative. It is a reflection, a mirror in which we can truly see ourselves.

Michael B Jordan plays Oscar Grant, a 22 year old man who is trying to walk his path straight for his girlfriend and daughter, who he loves very much. Wrong place, wrong time and tragedy can occur.

It is understandable that, for the most part, the viewing public avoid films like this.
After all, it is not mindless, there are no transforming hunks of metal destroying things, no crass comedy or superheroes saving planet earth to fill your brain with hot air.
It takes courage and strength to watch films like these.
One makes a choice, to educate and inform oneself as well as being told a great story or blindly go where everyone’s gone before.

Ryan Coogler writes and directs his first feature with confidence and it is produced by Forest Whitaker.
All involved clearly have a reverence for this true story, wanting to do it justice and succeeding.

Jordan is a star in the making, having breathed life into a complex, conflicted character in Wallace in season 1 of The Wire to playing one of three high school friends who make a discovery that gives them superpowers in the brilliantly inventive Chronicle.
With Fruitvale Station he has made his mark and we will definitely be seeing a lot more of this talented young man.

The film carries an undercurrent of fore-boding danger.
We know what is going to happen, but as you get to know Oscar throughout this fateful day, you spend time with a young man, flawed, human but deeply caring. It is with joy that we get to see this man living his life, whether it is spending time with his girlfriend and daughter, a family birthday or just kicking it with his friends.

The supporting cast bring their real to the table adding to the feeling that you could be watching a documentary, which makes the journey all the more devastating.
Melonie Diaz is layered and believable as Oscar’s girlfriend/baby mother and even Octavia Spencer was ok, which was a surprise.

Not an easy watch but an important one.
Art has the ability to change minds and that is no easy thing.

3.8/5

BUY THE BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

 

 

PARIAH (2011)

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Pariah (puh-rahy-uh)

1. A person without status 2.A rejected member of society 3.An outcast

“Who do you become when you can’t be yourself?”

Now there’s a question for you.
How many times do we hide our true feelings in public to just get along?
What if the real you was totally different from most of your peers? How would you cope?
Having a sexual preference different for the societal norm has its hurdles, of that there is no doubt.

Dee Rees makes her feature film debut as the writer/director with this heart-felt, emotionally honest tale of a young girl trying to fit into a world that doesn’t understand her.
Hey, that could be any coming of age piece, right? But what Rees shows us, very beautifully, is a confused girl looking for acceptance; surrounded by obstacles and hurdles that she must overcome.

The acting is honest and without any fanfare, which is so refreshing in a cinematic world where the pacing and on the nose acting are par for the course.

The music and the lack of music are beautifully placed; evoking certain emotions when it needs to and being noisy in its absence at other, more intimate moments.

Adepero Oduye (recently seen in 12 Years a Slave) encompasses Alike’s emotional journey with an understanding thoroughly filled with depth and layer (playing 17 years old very convincingly even though she’s in her 30’s), attempting to find her place in the world. Pernell Walker, Alike’s best friend, Laura is also excellent, a few years ahead of Alike as far as sexual experience goes and yet still close enough to empathise and do all she can to help.
Kim Wayans (of the clan Wayans) is both devastating and devastated as Alike’s mother, whose emotional struggle is no walk in the park with her expectations, religious beliefs, disappointments and social mores.
Charles Parnell walks the thin line between understanding his daughter and appeasing his wife with grace and dignity. Aasha Davis as Alike’s friend Bina, is wonderful, beautiful and spontaneous.

All in all the performances are flawless, the direction considered, the writing honest and the best thing about it is the fact that certain bits of narrative are alluded to, not explicitly explained. No big mysteries just an intelligently told story giving viewers the chance to fill in the blanks for themselves. This is a feminine touch that the masculine could learn a great deal from.

Rees utilised Kickstarter to finish the film that had taken 5 and a half years to make and should surely be an inspiration to upcoming film-makers to show that it can be done; outside the studio system, independently and on your own terms.

An honest depiction of a young girl’s transition into the big wide world.

3.5/5

BUY THE BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE