In Review: The Soloist

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The Soloist was a movie I found in a magazine. I just happened to read the short exerpt while online, probably why it showed up in my Netflix queue near the top. I must have put it as #1 until it was uprooted by my ever-documentary-loving husband. :) I am so glad we watched this movie, since there aren't many movies wanting to talk about what homelessness looks like on Skid Row. This is a heartbreaking movie, one that leaves the audience talking after the credits are run through.

If you know me in real life, one of my favorite type of movies are those based on books or true stories. I love watching miraculous events play out that could only be Divinely orchestrated, and this was a beautiful story about just that. I also love movies that really make you think in the end, whether that's about poverty, or humanity, or whatever. If it starts a conversation, it probably struck a chord.

This story starts with the main character (Downey Jr.) who needs a story for his newspaper. Enter in a prospective interest : Foxx, a man making music in a terminal who is obviously homeless, mentally unstable, or both. Through the movie, the two become friends, and as Downey Jr's character begins to realize there are more to the people living on Skid Row other than forcing them to an area where they are forgotten, Nathaniel Ayers (Foxx) rebirths his passion for the cello while battling schizophrenia. Truly a movie conversation starter, this film isn't cinematically great. It is average, but the story is one that appealed to me.

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