California Solo

I have seen only a few films that have truly great acting. The film has a great story and to me seems very realistic. Robert Carlyle is a great choice for a lead in this movie, having seen him not show his truly great acting skills in films for the last few years it's nice seeing him back on the silver screen. I think this role of an older British rocker fits his skills perfectly.

I think this film has great potential to go down as a classic and will appeal more to the older generation of 40+, but this not to say that younger people won't enjoy it either.

To me Robert Carlyle gives a performable that shows to sides of a personalty that is plagued by demons.

I also read the screenplay before it was filmed. I too really enjoyed the story a lot. It was touching and human and not a "hollywood" story. I was also excited to know that Robert Carlyle was cast as the lead.

I thought the lead character was interesting. He is an aging ex-pat living in America. I think the lives of assimilated ex-pats are very interesting but not often explored in Hollywood. Reading the script, I recognized the emotional themes of rootlessness, guilt and regret the main character goes through as issues many of my closest expat friends and family experience as well. I wish more films like this were made to be released in America and Hollywood.

The screen play is very well written. I read it before the movie was shot and could easily feel the strength of the story. It's a mature subject though, which seems to bear out in the IMDb vote distribution. It's going to appeal most strongly to older folks. By the way, we older folks have money and pay to see movies with good story lines. Carlyle is a great choice for a lead in this movie, having seen him do forlorn but strong characters in many movies and also at the other end of the universe, so to speak ... I can't think of a contemporary alternative that would fit the role. After reading some of the Sundance buzz I rather felt that the critics prefer the same old boring story lines, whereas California Solo at least is a fresh interpretation that is also well-timed to the old rock audience.

California Solo is a laid back and entertaining character study. In recent American movies, the character studies (as opposed to biopics) of musicians have tended to be of those belonging to the country & western branch (Crazy Heart, etc.). So it's nice to see one about a British rock and roll artist. Robert Carlyle is perfectly cast as a former Scottish rock musician, now emigrated to USA and working on a farm in California. His only connection with music is the tributes to other rock bands of his era that he records at home for a local radio station. A clash with the law, which threatens deportation back to Scotland, forces him to face his inner demons and past. The film is carried by Carlyle who is both endearing and totally believable as a has been rock musician. The music is good, as is the direction and cinematography. Great fun.

I got this movie on DVD - the story sounded good, I really like Carlyle in other movies.

But the main problem - there were no captions. They were even 'unavailable' on my TVs CC option. I really don't see how anyone could understand the dialogue without captions - much of it whispered, mumbled, or with music.

Secondly, I thought a lot of scenes were redundant and/or over long. A lot of scenes didn't move the story enough to hold my interest

I also didn't care for the age of the 'beau' character. Too close to the age of his daughter . . ? Also the Beau character was not well written, therefore not well played. Or maybe the character was just cliche'.

If only it had captions, maybe I would've been more interested in this story.