The Soloist Plays Mostly in Tune
by Angela Walker, Executive Editor and Director of Producer Relations for ChristianCinema.com

Some films must be experienced in the theater first, either for the scope of the visuals or the intensity of action. For others, it’s the musical score that should be heard in full surround sound, in a setting that allows your eyes and ears to feast on the wondrous pairing of sight and sound. The Soloist is one of those films. Its lush score beautifully complements the cinematography and underscores the contrast between the reporter who seemingly has it all and the homeless man who has nothing more than what will fit in a shopping cart.

Synopsis
Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Several years ago while out on the streets looking for a story, he encountered Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless man playing a violin with two strings. He also learns that Ayers was a Juilliard student with great promise. Once his interest is piqued, Lopez begins writing about him and a friendship of sorts develops between the two men.

Conflict enters when Lopez tries to manipulate Ayers into living at a homeless shelter. Ayers doesn’t want to be cooped up (we learn later why) and he senses that Lopez’s motives are more self-serving than altruistic. As the two men journey toward friendship, Lopez journeys further and further into Nathaniel’s world without ever inviting him into his own. It’s not until the final few moments that Lopez realizes he never treated Ayers with the respect he deserves as a human being.

Soaring Cinematography and Outstanding Performances
There are many things this film got right. When Lopez first heard Ayers play, he asked him why it was in the tunnel, where the noise of traffic competes against the sound of a lone instrument. Ayers replied that he hears only the music and the applause of doves’ and pigeons’ wings, and that is illustrated with some stunning and soaring cinematography, probably some of the most beautiful moments in the film.

Robert Downey, Jr., and Jamie Foxx both give outstanding performances in their roles, fully inhabiting their characters with all their flaws and complexities. Director Joe Wright also does a great job illustrating the situation of the homeless in Los Angeles. When he agreed to do the film, he insisted on using men and women from the homeless shelter as extras, even going so far as to hold improv workshops with about 20 individuals they called “The Lamp Chorus.” That succeeded in more ways than one, as it not only contributed to the authenticity of the film, it also strengthened the extras’ self-worth and resulted in a changed demeanor visible to the shelter directors.

What Wright Got Wrong
What Wright gets wrong is several scenes that just don’t seem to fit the ongoing story. Or maybe it’s that the story isn’t quite a story. It’s still a collection of articles that was adapted to a screenplay. At one point, Lopez explains that he never intended to write a book, because how can you write a book that doesn’t have an ending? And Ayers’ story doesn’t have an ending yet. Nor does the problem of the homeless in Los Angeles, or any other city.

Lopez goes to the Lamp Shelter and talks with its director about Ayers’ situation. His suggestion is to find someone to diagnose and medicate him. The director responds that too many people have been diagnosed and medicated, and the last thing Nathaniel needs is one more person telling him he needs medication. When Lopez gets frustrated with what he perceives as the director’s inactivity to get Nathaniel off the streets, he suggests forcing him into the shelter.

There are many factors that lead to homelessness, ones that can never be fully understood by someone who hasn’t been there. In one scene, Lopez tells his ex-wife about his frustration with Ayers. “The person I was trying to be of some redeeming service to turned on me. I’m the enemy…a stranger.” So is the shelter director, a cellist who tries to give Ayers lessons, even his own sister. They’re all voices trying to tell him what to do. Ultimately, all those voices Ayers are drowned out by the voice of his mother telling him “My voice is all there is. You’re of no consequence.”

As a narrative of a period of time in two men’s lives, the film works. But it fails to go very deeply into their individual stories, so as a result, we’re not drawn very far into the story. There are moments of great possibility, but they’re offset by too many jokes about urine that simply have no place in the script.

Rating
The Soloist is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some drug use and language. There are also scenes showing Ayers’ violence during a schizophrenic episode, a police raid on the homeless community, and drug use.

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