The Soloist
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Jamie Foxx, and Catherine Keener
DVD release: 7 January 2010
Rated: PG
Music to Foxx's ears
Jamie Foxx may yet
be polishing up another acceptance speech for this moving portrayal of
a yabbering schizophrenic musician, treading in the footsteps of Shine,
A Beautiful Mind and Rainman. Equally Robert Downey
Jr. (Iron Man) could be up there for best supporting actor in
his role of the sympathetic journalist setting out on a difficult task
to rescue the down and out cello player. Downey, despite an uneven career,
proves again he’s a really fine actor capable of broad emotional
range.
Steve
Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) noted journalist for the L.A. Times meets a
homeless guy, rambling Nathaniel Anthony Ayres (Jamie Foxx) playing a
battered violin with only two strings, and hooked up with a shopping cart
overloaded with junk. Lopez takes an interest in Ayres, seeing the possibility
of a darn good story. Ayres was a child prodigy playing cello in Cleveland
and attending the prestigious Julliard Music School in New York with such
luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma until he’s engulfed in mental problems.
World-weary Lopez starts writing about Ayers in his popular column and
a cello is denoted by an elderly reader. This sets Ayers on the rocky
path back to becoming a concert artist and a solid friendship develops
between the two unlikely men. There are many hurdles along the way but
Lopez perseveres despite bouts of frustrated anger from Ayers, and it
seems possible Ayers might be launched on a succesful career. His first
solo concert (reflections of Geoffrey Rush) is the critical moment. By
now the cinema audience is hoping he’ll succeed, and it’s
a scene charged with supense.
The film depends on these two strong portrayals, with the aid of some
excellent camerawork and of course the stirring Beethoven soundtrack.
Unfortunately the multiplexes will probably play Beethoven’s beautiful
cello music louder than a real concert, they seem to assume today’s
audiences are stone deaf. Foxx (The Kingdom) who gained an Oscar
for his leading role in Ray, portrays Ayers with such enthusiastic
conviction you start believing. Scenes between Downey Jnr. and Foxx are
simply brilliant, they both play it full-bore with much intensity. Foxx’s
quick-fire endless mumble is right on the button.
British director Joe Wright of the impressive Atonement is helming
again with obvious concern for the darker aspects of the huge homeless
population in Los Angeles. He’s well served by his supporting cast
with Tom Hollander (Pride and Prejudice) as a cello teacher,
and in particular Catherine Keener (What Just Happened) as Mary,
who’s both Lopez’s editor and divorced wife. The screenplay
by Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) is broadly based on the book
by Steve Lopez; although for dramatic purposes, there are some variations.
Yet overall the script remains faithful to the true story including the
ending.
Seamus McGarvey the DOP (also cinematographer on Atonement) provides
smooth gliding camerawork in a number tricky tracking shots so beloved
by Joe Wright. Impressive images illustrate the grandeur of Beethoven’s
music. Early in the film the camera soars upwards above the city to the
score and that really works. Less inspired is the sequence when Ayers
listens in rapture to a live concert. This time we're treated to dreary
computer graphics which could be from a Windows Media Player. Come on,
you expect better than that. Wright does get heavy-handed with the skid
row scenes, the filthy crowded alleys of the dispossessed look like the
13 Cantos of Hell all rolled into one. A little unevenness in plot focus
doesn’t hinder the central performances.
The Soloist remains an impressive movie, with a pair of top actors
working their butts off, fine classical sound track, intelligent compassionate
script, and assured direction. This will surely do well with a discerning
audience.
John Bale