California Solo

Why can't all movies be like this? I guess if they were, nothing would be special.

California solo is all about great writing, acting and direction. It is truly special.

No gimmicks, slick Hollywood tricks - just great dialog, direction and acting.

If you're a musician, you'll love this movie. If you're HUMAN you'll love this movie!

Highly recommended.

In three words: A character study.

When I saw this movie I didn't had any expectations. If you like explosions, sfx, big plot lines or adventure then this isn't your cup of tea. However, this doesn't mean that this movie is bad. Personally, I think this movie is a welcome change compared to the amount of Hollywood blockbusters that are coming out every month. What I really liked about this movie is the fact that it takes its time, allowing the viewer to think and share the moments of the main character, good and bad.

The focus is on the main character Lachlan MacAldonich, a former Scottish rock band member who immigrated to America because of problems in the past. After living in America for many years, he gets caught drunk driving resulting in deportation. From this point on we follow Lachlan through his struggles caused by the pressure of the present and his burden of the past.

The movie is a character study with a slow pace, so please keep an open mind when watching it. California Solo focuses on the character Lachlan MacAldonich portrayed by Robert Carlyle, who gives a great performance. The supporting cast is reasonable and helps to create the right atmosphere and story progression. However, the movie has its flaws namely, that it is very slow and personally I think certain character interactions didn't work very well.

In the end I give California Solo a 7, because it was a reasonable movie with good acting, emotional content, and a deep submersion of the surroundings.

Recommendation: Watch this movie around 6pm during a sunny day, because the light and timing adds to the atmosphere of the movie.

Everything I've seen this man in, his acting is superb! He gives every movie his all and it shows! Relevant story line for what's going on now.

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.