Robert Downey Jr

The Soloist

Robert Downey Jr. gives a heartfelt performance as Steve Lopez, the LA Times columnist whose continuous search for a story to sell, leads him to write about, and befriend a kind but mentally unwell homeless man, Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx).
What makes Lopez’s ongoing newspaper stories on Nathaniel so appealing to the city of LA is Nathaniel’s intriguing talent to produce beautiful and passionate music from his humble two-stringed violin. Lopez discovers that he was once upon a time a great child cellist prodigy and attended New York’s prestigious Juilliard School of Music.

Of course the question driving the film is ‘what happened to Nathaniel? Especially since his surreal love and admiration for Beethoven et al still radiates from his colourful presence. Lopez is drawn to Nathaniel and his curiosity and humanity lead him to uncover how such a talented musician once destined for greatness, became a man so attached to his worldly belongings which he totes around in a shopping trolley.

Both characters display a unique talent in their chosen crafts, Lopez with words and Nathaniel with music, which is perhaps what causes them to bond and find interest and friendship in the other.

Foxx’s performance was so enthralling that I found myself forgetting he was acting. I saw a real person. Robert Downey Jr.’s performance is also up to his usual high standard.

The most valuable experience of the film was realising how my own attitudes and opinions of the numerous homeless characters (many of which are actual homeless people from the streets of LA and not actors), changed from the beginning to the end of the film, as I gradually saw the real human beings within.

‘The Soloist’ is about so much more than feeding the hungry. It’s about mental illness, self determination and the complex and inexplicable nature of the human psyche.  Despite Nathaniel’s mental problems and his bare grasp on reality, he still forcefully resists interference from others trying to tell him how his life ought to be lived.

The film also presents us with the realities of the homeless population and society’s inadequacies to address the exponential growth of those suffering on the streets. It’s a shocking juxtaposition to see LA’s lamp community looking worse than the slums in India, and think that the overindulging streets of Hollywood are just down the road.

We all think that we can help them, but what ‘The Soloist’ makes you realise is that it’s not as simple as giving them an apartment or a break. It’s about self determination. What one person thinks is the right thing to do, the right path to take, or the right choice to make, is not another’s. Our intentions might be the same, so who is right?

The filmmakers could have taken the stereotypical Hollywood path and ended the movie with a neat and happy ending with all plots resolved. However the movie ends much like real life – with unresolved issues, and the characters wondering if they have done the right thing. Fitting, considering it’s based on a true story. A moving and thought-provoking film.

- Review by Jessica Luppino