The Soloist (2009)

Many obstacles have kept me out of the cinema lately, so Jack & I had to choose only one movie for last weekend. We were both eager to see this one, based on a true story, which has had plenty of discussion on NPR (the story and the movie). Disclaimer: I'm a sucker for the corny "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast" genre (it's not "beast"). I even liked August Rush (2007), when most didn't, and would love to find a recording of young Leon Thomas III (as Arthur) singing the song when August first met him in the park. This song is not part of the soundtrack and is not La Bamba. The Leon Thomas (1937-1999) that I knew of before was a very hip jazz singer who did an indescribable (okay, I'll try) yodeling thing, frequently with Pharoah Sanders. But I digress, as usual.

Jamie Foxx (sensational and Oscar-winning, melting into character as Ray Charles in Ray (2004); co-star of, and singing in Dreamgirls (2006); arrogant as the football phenomenon in Any Given Sunday (1999); not a big part, but I must mention because I love it, in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996); and he came to my attention in the groundbreaking Fox TV series from 1991-94, In Living Color) stars as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr., a mentally ill, homeless musical genius, who was the subject of a book by LA Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr., who is good in everything, but here are a few: deservedly Oscar-nominated for Tropic Thunder (2008) and Chaplin (1993), cartoonishly intense in the live action parts of Iron Man (2008), a member of the first class ensembles in Good Night and Good Luck (2005) and Short Cuts (1994), good in the excellent Wonder Boys (2000), and my first sighting was in The Pick-up Artist in 1987, because I didn't watch SNL in the mid-80s). I think Downey should have received top billing, but he didn't. He was totally believable as the always-curious writer willing to go the distance not only for a story but for a fellow human being. Director Joe Wright's feature directorial debut was Keira Knightley's Oscar-nominated performance in Pride & Prejudice (2005), and his second outing, Atonement (2007), also starring Knightley, won an Oscar for composer Dario Marianelli, who scored both as well as The Soloist. There were many times in The Soloist when the music swelled and so did my heart, in a good way. I've listened to clips from the Marianelli soundtrack, and it's good, but there are many pieces that aren't on it, listed here. Catherine Keener is once again playing the angry woman, this time Lopez' ex-wife, and Ayers' sister is played by Lisagay Hamilton, who went by Lisa Gay Hamilton when she was on ABC's The Practice for 6 years. My time living in Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s did not take me to skid row, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of the colorful, mentally ill street people in the movie; according to this trivia on imdb, most of the homeless people on screen are actually homeless in real life. I wonder if they will benefit from the film like the kids from Slumdog Millionaire will from theirs? I liked the character of Dave (Nelsan Ellis), who ran the homeless shelter and harbored no illusions about his population. There was a review that said Foxx's performance was "over the top." I don't think that writer had any idea what mental illness is about. I might even call it "pitch perfect," pun intended, using the current favorite tagline of movie publicity.