Fruitvale Station follows the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of 31 December 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 better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year's Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend Sophina, who he hasn't been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to Tatiana, their beautiful four year-old daughter. Crossing paths with friends, family and strangers, Oscar starts out well, as the day goes on, he realizes that changes are 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...

Ludwig Goransson's score for Fruitvale Station is yet another one of those soundtracks that does a great job of setting the mood for the movie, but sounds a little flat when listened to in isolation.

The first five tracks are various artists songs - but uniformly they all involve the word "n*gger" in some capacity. Not my sort of music, but again, I'm sure in the movie they add much.

The majority of the score is atmospheric music - which is hard to listen to outside the movie. The album contains 19 tracks and lasts for approximately 53 minutes. While it has it's moments, this isn't a score that I'd want to listen to again in a hurry. Technically it adds much to the film, but doesn't do anything for me on its own merits.

6

Darren Rea