Film Review: The Soloist
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by Cheryl Frances in Entertainment, Film & TV
Director: Joe Wright
‘Life Has a Mind of Its Own’
The Soloist does not provide your typical movie structure; ‘the problem, the answer and then the happy ending’ but what it does do is portray the real life issues of mental illness and homelessness effortlessly. Actors Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr who both appear to be on a roll, starring in a string of successful films of late (Ray, The Kingdom; Tropic Thunder, Iron Man, respectively) team up with Joe Wright a young British director also riding high on recent success (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice).
Based on a true story, The Soloist details Los Angeles Times writer Steve Lopez’s memoir of meeting disturbed homeless musician Nathaniel Ayers. Jamie Foxx plays Nathaniel Ayers, a Julliard Cello prodigy now homeless and living on Skid Row. Ayers a sufferer of Schizophrenia and has an indescribable love for music particularly Beethoven but with his matted hair and life’s possessions in a trolley he now plays a battered 2 stringed violin in the streets of Los Angeles.
This is where Los Angeles Times writer Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey Jr) stumbles across him and decides that he would be a great topic to write about in his column. Whilst Lopez writes about and tries to help Nathaniel the viewer gets to delve deeper into each of their lives. We see Nathaniel’s past and how he ended up where he is now, but we also realise that Nathaniel is not the only one who is a little unhinged. Lopez whose editor (Catherine Keener) just happens to be his ex- wife could be viewed as living a crazier life than Nathaniel.
The Soloist features 2 of the year’s best performances and the depth of chemistry between the lead characters is undeniable. It’s ironic because the film is called The Soloist but the 2 main characters play equal roles in the film, a kind of duet if you like. Parts of the film are shot with camera angles that have quite a fidgety and almost distracted edge to them and this gives the viewer a feel of the world from Nathaniel’s perspective.
There is even a scene dedicated to a sensory phenomenon known a synaesthesia, where an individual perceives visual arrays of colours and even movement when they hear music. The portrayal of this phenomenon was excellent. The Soloist deals with some quite dark issues, homelessness and drug abuse being at the forefront. In addition to this it even features extras that were cast from the real skid row, so it’s nice that the film balances these dark notes with some lighter ones, particularly the uplifting music (mostly courtesy of Nathaniel himself) that is present throughout the film. There’s even moments when the viewer get’s to laugh, mind you this is usually at Jamie Foxx’s hairstyle and facial expressions!
I really enjoyed The Soloist, but this might be because it featured one of my greatest loves in music and one of my greatest interests in Psychology. For me the film dealt with the issue of Nathaniel’s Schizophrenia in a way that perhaps removed some of the negative stigma related to this illness by showing a kind, gentle, and educated man.
I also loved the use of music to portray one of the key aspects of the film; Beethoven is Nathaniel Ayers path to transcendence and the use of Beethoven’s work throughout the film conveys this point clearly. As much as I enjoyed the film I recognise its downsides and reasons why others may not enjoy it as much. Firstly and simply there’s not that much action!
I mean from the synopsis you wouldn’t expect it to be jam packed with action, but if action is what you like this may not be the film for you.
Secondly, the film is a bit ‘all over the place’ (that’s the best way I can put it) in terms of storyline and plot. As I said at the beginning it doesn’t adhere to the prototypical movie structure, so unless you understand what the film is trying to convey it’s highly likely you won’t enjoy it because you’ll think ‘what was the point of that?’ I understood the message of the film hence my enjoyment and I would put it here, but then there’d be no point in you watching it for yourself, would there? And I do, despite my criticisms recommend it.
CHERYL’S RATING (out of 5)
3.5 stars
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I fell asleep during this movie not because it was boring but because I was extremely tired. From what I saw it looked interesting so I will watch this film again …1) because most Jamie Foxx films are good and 2) based on your review.