Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2014

In the wee hours of New Year’s Day, 2009, 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot dead while in transit police custody at Oakland’s Fruitvale BART station. Actual cell-phone footage of the outrage takes up the film’s first 15 minutes. First-time filmmaker Ryan Coogler (26) could have made a rabble-rousing documentary, but instead opted for a quasi-existential, purposely unpolished and rarely predictable reconstruction of Oscar’s last day alive that lends poignancy to everything he does. The Wire’s Michael B. Jordan nails the main role, and he’s superbly backed up by Melonie Diaz and Octavia Spencer. (90 min)