The Soloist

The Soloist is the latest film from director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice and Atonement). It is based on the true story of a homeless mentally-ill man in LA who once studied at Julliard and is an accomplished musician. He is discovered by an LA Times columnist who tells his story and befriends him. The musician is played by Jamie Foxx while Robert Downey,Jr. portrays the columnist.

The plot revolves around Downey, Jr attempting to help Foxx and coming to terms with the fact that he does not necessarily know what is best for the homeless man. Its a highly sentimental film and attempts to manipulate its audience over deeply problematic issues of mental health, poverty and so forth. I'm afraid Mr. Wright's movement to telling more and more highly moralized tales has left a certain amount of distaste in my mouth and I sadly state that although his skill at establishing shots and directing is still well done, he gets lost in his overbearing message.

I was genuinely pleased with his first venture, the adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (note: not the BBC one). I thought it was well cast and acted and I even went out and purchased Jane Austen's novel because I enjoyed the story so much. And I have to say that it a pretty good recommendation in my book. Atonement didn't enthrall me so much although it maintained its high quality of direction and story telling. The second half was far less entertaining than the first and the "spectacular" one take camera shot mid film felt like the amazing technical feat that it was, not like something that worked for the film.

I'm not entirely sure that the story is a cinematic one and his attempts to set the backdrop as occurring during the Katrina hurricane made it even more unfortunate. It isn't clear to me what the intent there was but it seems like the story of one homeless man finding a friend and charity in the wake of millions being displaced from their homes and thousands being trapped in the Super Dome do to massive government incompetence is rather trite. Mr. Wright please get back to telling stories and save the preachiness for others.