Movie

Plenty of light romantic comedies manage to get the job done in under an hour and a half, but here’s a heart-wrenching drama manages to do the same, deftly relating the story of a real-life tragedy with brevity and efficiency. The breakthrough effort for director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale” takes its title from the Oakland BART stop where the unarmed Oscar Grant was shot and killed by transit police on New Year’s Day in 2009. Coogler’s storytelling style is modest, focusing on the last day of the young man’s life, the demons he battled and the plans he made. It’s a story told with such offhand intimacy that his death, when it comes, is especially devastating; more than just a name or a face, this a life, dramatized with skill and sensitivity.