The Soloist (2009)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Joe Wright

Writers (WGA):

Susannah Grant (screenplay)
Steve Lopez (book)

Release Date:

24 April 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Biography | Music

Tagline:

Life has a mind of its own

Plot:

A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Julliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.

Plot Keywords:

Musician | Journalist | Columnist | Los Angeles Times | Reporter

Cast

Jamie Foxx	...	Nathaniel Ayers
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Steve Lopez
Catherine Keener	...	Mary Weston
Tom Hollander	...	Graham Claydon
Lisa Gay Hamilton	...	Jennifer Ayers (as Lisagay Hamilton)
Nelsan Ellis	...	David Carter
Rachael Harris	...	Leslie Bloom
Stephen Root	...	Curt Reynolds
Lorraine Toussaint	...	Flo Ayers
Justin Martin	...	Young Nathaniel
Kokayi Ampah	...	Bernie Carpenter
Patrick Tatten	...	Paul Jr.
Susane Lee	...	Marisa (as Susane E. Lee)
Marcos De Silvas	...	Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Ilia Volok	...	Harry Barnoff

Also Known As:

Imagining Beethoven (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some drug use and language.

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

UK | USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44923) | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:12 | Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | UK:12A | Finland:K-11

Filming Locations:

Biltmore Hotel - 506 S. Grand Avenue, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

Most of the homeless people shown in the film are actually homeless.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lopez leaves the Lamp facility after waiting for Ayers, he gets into his Saab and sees a prostitute walk in front of his car towards some people. She is seen clearly because of the reflection of his car headlights. When the scene changes back to the car, the headlights are not on.

Quotes:

Nathaniel Ayers: You can't hold down angels.

Movie Connections:

References The Wise Little Hen (1934)

Who are you?

Do not think this as one of those schmaltzy ersatz living experiences. That is what the people who packaged the movie want you to think. This is a movie about failure, and if you had enough of grim and depressing news lately, do not see the movie. On the other hand, if you are not suffering from empathy deficit disorder you are ready for the experience. The story is of Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, and Skid Row dweller Nathaniel Ayers. Lopez wrote about his friendship with Ayers in his columns, which were later adapted into a book on which this movie is based. The experience that the director and his actors dish up is the rough kind, the sort that acknowledges limitations. Wright took firm control of the movie's tone: The first half describes Lopez's meeting and initial attempts to help Ayers, it is about feeling good, redemption. The second, more realistic part is about the sweat and pain that comes after the saving, for both the redeemed and the redeemer. This movie is less about a friendship between a journalist and a down-and-out musician, than it is about seeing what, and who we are we looking at. The movie is only in part about a serious illness. It does a god job of getting at the isolation we feel when we have tried to do the right thing and never could do enough. In the end, "The Soloist" is about how unknowable other people really are.