The Soloist

The Soloist originally looked like being an Oscar baiting production. Joe Wright, hot from Atonement, directing two solid starts in a tale regarding mental illness. However, something’s gone wrong somewhere. All the above elements are correct and reporting for duty, but nothing seems to connect up and we’re left with a film with a sprawling narrative that goes nowhere slowly. Oh, so slowly. The two stars in question are Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx, as respectively, Steve Lopez, an LA journalist, who befriends homeless musician, Nathaniel Ayers. The film is based on the real life meeting between the two and Lopez's subsequent attempt to help Ayers off the street and into rehab. Ayers suffers from schizophrenia and the most successful scenes in the film are the short flashbacks which show him gradually succumbing to the illness. However, Foxx’s constant muttering and paranoia in the main sections of the film just irritate when they are supposed to illicit sympathy. Obviously this is a difficult subject to analysis at the best of times, but Wright never seems to get the tone right. In addition, Wright also stretches the running time with many unnecessary fancy shots, a few of which seem have been lifted straight from LA überlenser Michael Mann. Wright fares better with his portrayal of the Lamp Community centre in LA and the plight of the LA homeless. It’s no surprise to read that many of the “actors” in the film are homeless in reality. Which does pose the question why this film was made in the first place? The story of Ayers is an intriguing one, but not for a 2 hour long film. I’d suggest a real life documentary about Lamp and the homeless people portrayed in the film would have been money better spent and more worthy of our attention.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Hard to explain what happened here. The film just never gets going and tonally it’s all over the place. As opposed to being a sympathetic portrayal of mental illness, it ends up feeling preachy and even then you’re not too sure what about. Rating: 4/10.