Before I ever watched The Soloist, I had a gut feeling about it. I had a great feeling inside me that flowed out like music of the soul. Yes, my overwhelming feeling about The Soloist was proven correct after I finished it. Just as I had felt in my gut, it was indeed, too long.
Some movies can get away with that. The audience doesn’t even notice the time fleeting past because we’re so enthralled with the story. Other times the audience notices. Boy, do they notice. In a dark movie theater, when watching a movie that has no clear end in sight—the 90-minute mark usually yields an array of blue flashes as cell phones light up the face of an anxious viewer. For me it was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was long and longer. You know when you’re watching a movie and there’s about three or four times where you think the credits are just around the corner…and it continues on. You think, “What more could there possibly be to say at this point?” In Button, I checked my cell phone a few times near what I thought would be the end. I love Cate Blanchett like the rest of them (Brad Pitt not as much, but that’s not the point), but still…I was thinking that I’d rather pop in Elizabeth or Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There for a good Blanchett performance. “Please not another minute of Button.” Sorry to the many I’ve offended, for some reason it was raved.
Enough about the fantastical flick, onto reality. The Soloist, based on a true story, was just a few bars too long. It tried so hard—the poor film—to be as big as Button or the like, but it just wasn’t. Taking a compelling true story doesn’t always work, no matter how good the acting. Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. team up to tackle the tale of a journalist who attempts to help a musician with mental illness living on the streets.
Steve Lopez (Downey) is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times looking for material when he comes upon a schizophrenic homeless man at a park. Nathaniel Anthony Ayres Jr. (Foxx) will mumble his ramblings to just about anyone who passes and just as Steve turns to leave, he mentions he studied at The Julliard School. Like a good reporter, Steve’s ears perk up like a cat who hears the can opener begin to grind on a tuna delight. He comes running.
Steve gets to like Nathaniel and through several informal interviews and flashbacks from Nathaniel’s past, we learn what Steve set out to discover: how does a musical prodigy attend Julliard and end up living under a bridge in LA, dressed like a cross between Uncle Sam and the clown from It? It’s not rocket science. The poor man just heard voices until he eventually adopted the shopping cart life style, wearing some of the most eccentric outfits, only rivaled by Halloween costumes. If the movie had been better, then Foxx’s costumes could’ve been a contender against Heath Ledger’s Joker this October.
The Soloist just kept strumming away at a story that was entertaining at times, but felt contrived at every turn. It wasn’t awful by any stretch, it just deserves the Oscar for the attempted tearjerker of the year. The acting was great out of Downey, but it’s hard not to think, “Ray, again?” out of Foxx’s performance. Catherine Keener (who plays Mary Weston, a friend of Steve’s at the Times) was wonderful as always, but the acting just wasn’t enough to make an interesting true story into a great feature film. I wanted to like it, but my gut was right and it wasn't what I hoped it would be. For a guy who played the cello, The Soloist lacked the wind it needed to make it a great film.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The extra features on this Blu-ray are excellent. A true story does warrant great extra features, including actual footage of the real life person or interviews if the person is still alive. On The Soloist, we receive that. It’s always a joy to see interviews with the director and actors, but also great to see the real life players. Although, I will say that after seeing the real Nathaniel Ayres, it’s clear that either Jamie Foxx over-played him, or the film was written to be more dramatic than the actual situation as it happened. We get a director’s commentary and deleted scenes, as well as a feature on Julliard and Los Angeles homelessness. The extras are definitely worth seeing, along with the film for its score and talented actors.
"The Soloist" is on sale August 4, 2009 and is rated PG13. Biopic, Drama. Directed by Joe Wright. Written by Steve Lopez (book) ; Susannah Grant (screenplay). Starring Catherine Keener, Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr.
