The reason why I picked the DVD of The Soloist and took it home and watched it was its DVD cover art. I have the tendency to judge movies by their posters and DVD cover art. When a movie poster or DVD cover art successfully gets my attention, I take the time to read what’s written on the back of its DVD case. What’s written on the back of the DVD case will make me take home or drop the movie. In the case of The Soloist, I liked its central focus–classical music and a mental illness. Did it deliver what it promised in its cover and in what is written on the back of its DVD case? I safely can say that it delivered six out of ten.
The Soloist is based on a Los Angeles Times columnist’s (Steve Lopez, played by Robert Downey, Jr.) preoccupation with helping a Juilliard School dropout and a homeless schizophrenic musician (Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx). Foxx’s and Downey Jr’s acting are great, they really made the characters they play come to life on screen. But the movie has some shortcomings. For one, it tried to touch issues that are too big for it to handle all at the same time, like racial discrimination in our time, homelessness, and charity. These issues are actually fertile ground for movies like this, but biting on it too much could ruin what every film in this genre is after.
The biggest disappointment as far as I am concerned is the superb acting of Jamie Foxx was diminished somewhat by his inability to play the cello. I don’t know, but I was really distracted by Foxx’s fingers in the scenes where Nathaniel Ayers plays the cello; Foxx’s fingers seemed to tell me, “Hey, I am not Nathaniel Ayers, I am Jamie Foxx trying to play Nathaniel Ayers.” If you have seen the 1986 movie Crossroads, you’ll be impressed with Ralph Macchio playing the part of a guitar player because he really studied the guitar parts, so his scenes were realistic; his fingers moved along with the sound of the guitar.
But despite of its shortcomings, The Soloist is still a good movie worth watching. If you like classical music, then you’re in for a treat here.
