The Soloist: not the average performance
Posted by The Skyliner on April 29th, 2009
James Turner
Staff Writer
Sometimes, in the midst of the artistically deprived, desolate wasteland of aristocratic decadence known as Hollywood, a very good thing springs up out of nowhere. When that happens, one can’t help but sing its praises—or perhaps play them on a cello, outside and under a bridge.
The film is based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a brilliant classical musician suffering from schizophrenia and wandering the streets of Los Angeles with his cart of worthless possessions and his two-string violin. Opposite of Foxx is brusque Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) who helps him put his life back together. Foxx wields Ayer’s character powerfully and held back nothing in his performance. Having already been classically trained on the piano as a child, Foxx studied strings for the production of The Soloist and learned to play the cello as beautifully as if he had been playing his entire life.
“The guy who shows up to show me how to play the cello is nothing like what I expected,” Foxx commented about his instructor, Ben Hong of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, “I thought it would be a stiff guy. But my guy is like a Ninja cellist.”
The film is saturated with imagery, some of it more apposite than the rest. When the world fades away around Ayers as he absorbs into his music, or when he fills the clamorous streets of Los Angeles with peaceful harmony, the lowly puts the proud to shame, and the audience is given a brief glimpse into the soul of a true friendship. There were no absurd plot devices, no dues ex machina, just characters—real, believable characters dealing with real situations the way real people would deal with them. Then, out of all the tedious reality rises a remarkable, almost unrealistic, and sometimes hilarious experience as the chaotic whims of fate bring together two unlikely people who, through grace, patience and understanding, become closer than any human expectations would permit.
Unfortunately, every great work has its weak spots, and The Soloist is no exception. If anything bad had to be said about The Soloist, perhaps it would be about the arbitrary light show during Ayers’ and Lopez’s special trip to the recital hall. Granted, the abstract colors and patterns take the mind off the action and help it to focus on the music, but a psychedelic Windows Media Player style visualization was a poor substitute for genuine imagination for the short time it lasted.
Aside from its drawbacks, as few and far between as they are, The Soloist was a stunning movie and a moving experience. With the combined power of Director Joe Wright’s vivid imagination, and the masterful performances of Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr., the movie surges too deep for any “who plays who” trivia game; instead it weighs on the heart and opens the mind to hardship, to commitment, and to indisputable friendship.
Tags: Spring 2009, Vol. 108 - Issue 11