Friday 17 September 2010

The Soloist: Review

Don't you hate going to the cinema, really looking forward to a movie and then coming out feeling slightly let down? I have been looking forward to see The Soloist ever since I first saw the trailer some months back, and the comments by fellow reviewers since its arrival in the States back in April. Alas, I came out feeling that this wasn't the movie that I wanted to see. Maybe I held my expectations too high.

Steve Lopez is a writer for the LA Times, who, while struggling to find a story after having a bike accident, stumbles on Nathaniel, a homeless man with a talent for playing the violin. A violin with only two strings. As Lopez starts writing about the man, he becomes more and more emotionally involved, discovering that he first started life as a cellist, and went to study at Julliard, until after two years he left, mental illness causing him to find a new life on teh streets. Lopez, however, can see that this inoffensive man has much more talent than for him to just flit it away on the streets, while battling with his own demons and messy personal life.

Joe Wright's follow-up to Atonement is a much lighter film, yet still managing to be a solid drama, based on a true story. Very much lead by the central characters, the performances of two leads are exceptional, which is what you would expect.

Jamie Foxx, who was incredible in Ray, is okay here, giving the more showy part of Nathaniel, an extraordinary musician coping schizophenia. Kind hearted and innocent, Foxx displays him with tenderness and yet it kind of feels superficial. Yet it is Robert Downey Jr, in the less showy part of Lopez, who really comes to the forefront. After years of battling his own personal demons, Downey Jr has certainly proved he is a force to be reckoned with. He delivers a pitch perfect performance that is both likeable and human, and I would be very surprised if he didn't walk away with Oscar nominations next year.

I must admit while watching this, I kept thinking of the infamous scene in Tropic Thunder, in which Downey Jr is talking about other actors playing characters with some form of special needs, and yet 12 months later, we have him playing opposite an actor playing a character with special needs. Did he go full? Or was he only part?

The always reliable Catherine Keener is given little to do but she still oozes class, and while Wright's direction is unfussy and the production values are very high, there was one thing that troubled me. They have managed to answer the question about the homeless...they all seem to be suffering from some form of mental illness. Is that really right? Are the 90,000 homeless in LA (as we are told at the end) all in this state?

That aside, this could so easily have been a 4 star movie, but the ending is such an anticlimax that you do think to yourself, is that it? I have just sat through two hours of movie and that is all you could end it with?
So summing up, a film worth seeing for the lush cinematography and Downey Jr but don't expect a gripping film with a terrific ending. You will be disappointed.

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