Goodbye Solo

I saw CHOP SHOP at the film forum and loved it, so when a friend told me to go see GOODBYE SOLO, I took the recommendation. SOLO was different from what I expected. It was a lot funnier than CHOP SHOP. I laughed so hard, especially in the beginning. Toward the end, things start to get a lot more emotional. It's a life-affirming film with such a subtly of power that it's haunting. Once the film was over and everything sunk in, it stayed with me, even after leaving the theater and into the night. This is proof enough that Ramin Bahrani has made something original and vital. Like in CHOP SHOP, you can feel the soul of these characters. I can't wait to see what he will be working on next. I hope these actors go up for huge awards or make great careers for themselves, and I hope that Bahrani keeps making movies as good and as sublime as this one.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror." Oscar Wilde

The two improbable "travelers" in Patrice Leconte's Man on the Train seem like old men at a nursing home compared to the dynamic layers of regret and hope between Senegalese cab driver Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) and grizzled old man William (Red West)in Goodbye Solo. Solo takes him on several rides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, culminating in a life-changing one in the Smokey Mountains.

This tense little drama of ordinary people has a distant relationship to Beckett and Pinter, whose dramas introduce unknown forces and people who change things, even if those elements don't appear. Iranian director/writer Ramin Bahrani, along with co-writer Bahareh Azimi, has neatly shown the quotidian events of Solo's life, from the joys of a loving step-daughter and new son to strain of trying to become a flight attendant. Upon the entrance of the troubled William into his life, Solo deals with his urge to help William overcome depression and disappointment and Solo's own existential uncertainties.

Goodbye SOlo has large ambitions about showing the need to understand the end of life for the desperately disappointed and the beginning of a happy life for the positive, optimistic newcomers in the great melting pot. Solo remains hopeful in both arenas despite the forces allied against him, finding strength in his alliance with William just as characters in Beckett and Pinter find theirs.

The coda is as impressive as any other this year: the top of one of the North Carolina hills is circumscribed by an eccentric wind that seems to blow up and back at the same time, figuratively signaling the end and beginning. Solo and step-daughter Alex take comfort in the danger of the wind and precipice adjoining the safety of each other.

The message is clear—life goes on, sometimes dangerously, sometimes beautifully.

I saw this in the "Someone to Watch" and "American Independents" sidebars at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival.

Ramin Bahrani's work improves dramatically with this story of a Senegalese cab driver trying to make a life in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The story arc of his relationship with William, a fare who contracts for a one-way ride a couple of weeks in the future is well-drawn and quite satisfying. All of the prime relationships in this story are deftly developed: Solo's quest to "save" William (from what is clearly a suicide trip), Solo's efforts at providing for his second family (with concomitant tension from Wife #2), the effect of step-daughter (?) Alex on William, William's mystery relationship to the young man selling tickets at the local multi-plex.

The film was excellent technically. Bahrani likes "dark", yet the framing and focus provide for a nice intimacy with the characters. The "money" scene at the end (not giving away the plot here!) is beautifully framed, raw, elemental, vertigo-inducing without looking down.

Having not liked Man Push Cart (his first film) I feel that with this movie I have found a middle ground with Bahrani: I cared about the characters and I was told a story. But Bahrani likes mystery. And here there is a lot of mystery, very satisfying mystery. Worth seeing twice (which I did!).

Two men are in a taxicab. The passenger is a scowling, angry, misanthropic old man. The cabbie is a smiling, exuberant African immigrant. In a few lines of dialogue we learn that the misanthrope wants to be taken to Blowing Rock, North Carolina on the 20th of the month. "Why?" jokes the cabbie, "You gonna jump off?" No reply. The cabbie's glowing smile disappears.

The poetry of that opening scene is only rivaled by its ability to set a powerful air of suspense that carries through the entire 91-minute film all the way until the last minute. And even though there aren't any flashy car chases, shootouts, steamy sex scenes or fantastical plot twists, "Goodbye Solo" grabs your full attention from start to finish.

The theme, beautifully set in the opening scene & fleshed out as the story progresses, centers around the duality of the American dream and the American nightmare. The cabbie, relatively new to the USA, loves life and the endless opportunities life presents. He has a job and a family, neither of which are perfect, but they make him happy nonetheless. And he genuinely loves people. The old man is bitter, alone, presumably due to a tragic family meltdown, and he just wants to be left alone. Just as the cabbie is exploring new opportunities, the old man spends his days tying up loose ends: selling his home, closing out his bank accounts, etc. Over the course of 2 weeks or so, we witness the interaction--the philosophical struggle--between these two men, and the suspense of the outcome is maintained until the film's final scene.

The acting is absolutely 1st class with both men, particularly by the main character "Solo" played by Souléymane Sy Savane in his feature debut. His way of portraying raw optimism and hope is truly worthy of the description Roger Ebert used: "a force of nature". At the same time, it's not over-the-top unbelievable like Pollyanna or some children's fantasy character. He plays an intelligent man fully aware of the struggles in life, yet he has faith in his own determination. And isn't that the key to happiness for all of us? The old man character is the antithesis and equally believable. If you've ever suffered a horrible tragedy you know that sometimes nothing can cut through. Nothing. And that's what we see here: a man so resolute in his cynicism that you'd give up on him in 10 seconds.

And so, we see the cinematic version of the age-old physics puzzle: what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

The movie takes a quiet, measured pace with plenty of room to breathe. There are gorgeous shots of nature as well as equally haunting views of an empty downtown Winston-Salem at night. Funny, I've driven through that city scores of times on I-95 without giving it a second thought. But next time I think I'll take a small detour and visit. I also need to see this place called Blowing Rock to find out if it's real. The view from up there looks like something Count Dracula would see looking out over the misty mountains of Transylvania.

There aren't many popular films to compare this to, but I'd say if you liked the British film "Happy Go-Lucky" or the indie film "This Is Martin Bonner" or the Japanese "Shiki-Jitsu" (Ritual) or even Kurosawa's cinematic masterpiece "Ikiru" (To Live), then don't hesitate to see "Goodbye Solo".

Without a doubt this was the best film I saw at the Toronto Film Festival. My girlfriend and I decided to make a trip up there for a few days to see some films, enjoy the city and catch Niagara Falls. We saw some good films, and some not-so-good films, but most of them were good... but none of them captivated us like Goodbye Solo. It was on our short list because we had seen and really liked Chop Shop-- by the same director. This one is even better. The lead actor is just amazing!! This guy is going to win some awards. He is so charming that you can't help but want to watch everything he does. The whole audience was laughing for like the first half of the film because him and the old man - the big dawg! - are just so funny together and the things they say and do together are just great... but it was the ending that really got us. My girlfriend was crying. So were a lot of people around us... And the last shots are really beautiful. I don't know where they filmed it, but the location was amazing. The mountain and the trees and fog... it was just amazing how the filmed those colors and fog, like it wasn't real or something. The film really, really moved us and stayed with us for the rest of our trip and we talked about it a lot on our drive home. Solo changed so much in the film... that guy is a great actor. We will see it again when it comes out for sure.