Kim and I were trying to decide on a movie for Saturday night. I was in the mood for a comedy. Either 2 Guns (who doesn't like Denzel?) or This is the End (heard this was surprisingly funny). Kim was not on board and suggested Fruitvale Station. She said she heard good things about it. I had only seen some posters for it in the subway and had no idea of the underlying story. I did a quick check on Rotten Tomatoes and it was like 94%. Geez that's a high number. Kim declared the debate over and that we were going to see Fruitvale Station.

Turns out, Fruitvale Station is not a comedy. Quite the opposite. Its the saddest movie I've seen in a few years.

The movie is about Oscar Grant, a guy who was in jail for dealing drugs, but then gets out and tries to get his life together. He tries to be a good father to his daughter, and a good boyfriend to his daugther's mother. But he gets fired from his job in a supermarket. He's short on cash, and considers selling drugs to cover some expenses, but ultimately dumps the drugs in the ocean and decides he will figure out some other way to make ends meet.

One thing I did like about the movie's portrayal of Grant is that he is not some purely angelic individual. While he is trying to turn his life around, he's not flawless. He threatens the manager with bodily harm after being canned for being late; he lies to his mom about his drinking; he lies to his girlfriend; he is maybe a bit too friendly to other women, despite already being caught cheating once. Its not necessary anyway, given what goes down.

And what goes down is this: after a night of partying in SF with some friends on New Year's Eve, they take the BART (train) back to wherever they live. But a series of unfortunate coincidences happen on the train, and a fight breaks out. They get semi-arrested after getting off the train, things escalate, and a BART cop shoots Grant while he is handcuffed. The cop claimed he thought he had his taser pulled, not his gun.

And the movie abruptly ends when Grant passes away in the hospital the next morning. I say abruptly because you think the movie has around a half hour left when this happens. You expect to see public outcry, trial of the police officer, etc. But you don't. Instead you get a few seconds of footage of some protests, and then some text about the aftermath. Done!

The film itself seemed like it was trying to be a bit too artsy for me. Ending shots of scenes would just linger on an escalator or train. I kind of got dizzy at one point when a cameraman on foot followed Grant through he daycare for like 2 minutes. It was enough to be noticeable.

Of course, it was a good movie. I don't know if it was 94% good (or Pacific Rim good) but it was one of those movies that will probably win some awards. It was certainly not a comedy though. Thanks Kim.