Movie Comment: Fruitvale Station (2013)

Movies which convincingly capture — well, capture's too intent a word: conviction requires contingency; let's instead say catch, as one might catch a cold while trying to catch the train. Aside from any other goals, met or unmet, movies which convincingly catch a sense of place (early novelties, silent ethnographies, human-interest newsreels, home movies, low-budget ’70s exploitation) always convey the sorrow of time irretrievable, narratives interrupted, the ever-mounting and finally unpayable cost of the contingency we're watching.

Fruitvale Station convincingly catches a sense of place.