The Soloist

Rating:

Review

The Soloist - Life has a mind of its own

Based on a true story about Nathaniel Ayers, a highly gifted musical genius plagued with schizophrenia and the relationship he develops with a journalist from the L.A Times looking for his next story.

Boasting a cast of Jamie Fox and Robert Downey Jr, I had high expectations going into this. Jamie Fox’s portrayal of a mentally unstable musical genius is very heart felt and believable add to that the talents of Robert Downey Jr and you are left with a wonderful heart warming tale of two strangers that meet for the sake of a newspaper article and end up developing a wonderful friendship.

Steve Lopez (Downey Jr) has a failed marriage and has a son who he failing to connect with, he has almost given up on life completely, everything is loosing meaning, a sense of purpose.

Steve finds the homeless Nathaniel playing a battered string instrument. Even though this instrument is almost useless, Nathaniel manages to create beautiful classical sounds from the piece with little effort leaving you in awe of his brilliance. On researching Nathaniel, Steve discovers Nathaniel was a student at the highly prestigious Juilliard School studying the cello. He further discovers how Nathaniel’s losing battle with his illness leads to him dropping out from the school in his second year and eventually settling for life on the streets.

As a viewer you are drawn to Nathaniel with his charming, carefree child like manner and his strong overpowering passion for music. A complete contrast to his volatile and at times violent side, which can surprise you when it surfaces.

This is Jamie Fox at his best!

The more time Steve spends with Nathaniel the greater the impact it has on him, you get a sense of change in Steve Lopez’s character. A change that has been bought on by him suddenly finding himself caring for another individual, wanting to help in any way he can, in a way he has not done for a long time. Nathaniel gives this journalist hope, someone that began as just an article for Steve has become so much more.

The Soloist is for a mature audience looking for a slow paced drama, there is no action here, but a story that moves at a gentle pace managing to time keep you intrigued not only by its two main characters but by posing subtle questions to its audience.

Should mentally ill people be forced to take medication? Should they be given a choice? Independence? Freedom?

The movie itself offers no answers and doesn’t make you believe one way or the other, instead you are left to reflect on the topic searching for what you believe to be the best answer.

A great movie if you’re looking for a slow paced heart-felt drama. Most of us though, I believe this is something you would watch if you had time on your hands and felt like more then just Hollywood special effects numbing your mind for 2 hours.

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr, Catherine Keener

Director: Joe Wright

Rating: 3/5

Release date (UK): 25^th September 2009

Bilal Mohyuddin