‘The Soloist’ gives new meaning to 'music buff'

"The Soloist" (PG-13)
Grade: A-

“The Soloist” is one of those movies. You can tell just by watching the trailers that it’s one that warms and breaks the heart at the same time. It’s a classic tale of one person trying to help another, but that person isn’t sure he wants to be helped. This is not new territory by any means, but “The Soloist” manages to break away from other similar films with clever directing and a cast that is beyond outstanding.

Based on a true story, the film follows Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downy Jr.) as he becomes friends with Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless, schizophrenic street musician who dropped out of Julliard. Lopez and Ayers first meet on the street, where Ayers is playing gorgeous music on a violin that only has two strings.

“I’ve had some setbacks,” Ayers says.

“Me too,” Lopez says as he points to his the right side of his face, which he had recently mangled in a fairly serious biking accident.

Lopez writes a column about Ayers, and a reader sends Ayers a cello after reading about Ayers’ decrepit instrument. With Lopez and Ayers now significant parts of each other’s lives, the film takes off.

Jamie Foxx is easily the highlight of this film, playing the schizophrenic musician role so well it’s almost creepy. His performance is absolutely mesmerizing. He talks so fast that it’s almost impossible to start a coherent conversation with him, and when he hears music he almost looks like he’s about to cry. Tears of joy of course – he digs the musical ecstasy.

The film also goes inside of Ayers’ schizophrenic mind at times, where it sounds like a crowded room where everybody is talking at once.

The role of the troubled Steve Lopez is a natural fit for Robert Downy Jr., as Downy Jr. has had some personal troubles to say the least (he’s been arrested for drugs far too many times to count). Catherine Keener also does a fine job playing Lopez’s ex-wife and coworker.

Director Joe Wright should not be overlooked either. His shots are crafted well and oftentimes quite creative. One of the most fun sequences in the film comes when the reader sends the cello to the Los Angeles Times. The camera then rides around the newsroom in the mail cart with the cello until it eventually reaches Lopez’s desk.

However, the most unique sequence in the film is the synesthesia sequence Wright chooses to include when Lopez and Ayers attend a full orchestra performance. (Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon where what is experienced in one sense spills over into another. An example is seeing colors when one hears music – this is the type appears in the film. It kind of looks like an iTunes visualization.) The colors dance across the screen as the music permeates the air, implying that Ayers sees such colors when he hears music.

Don’t be surprised if “The Soloist” picks up a few awards at some point. The cast and crew nail this one out of the park.