The Soloist: DVD Review
The Soloist
Released by Universal Home Entertainment
Rating: M
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener, Tom
Hollander
Robert Downey Jr plays LA Times columnist Steve Lopez in this true
life story about Nathaniel Ayers (played by Jamie Foxx), a musical
prodigy whose life didn't go the way he was expecting.
Ayers was on course to make a splash in the music world and was
studying at the prestigious Julliard school of music when he
developed schizophrenia and ended up homeless on the streets of
downtown LA.
Lopez was the journalist who, amid the possibility of cuts on the
LA Times and reporter lay offs, ended up finding Ayers (after
looking for a story) and forming a friendship with him.
The Soloist is their story - and details the highs and lows of
living with mental illness.
Both Downey Jr and Foxx are pretty damn good in their respective
roles - Downey Jr continues to cement his reputation as a comeback
king with this role which is imbued with humanity and warmth; Foxx
manages to expertly convey the reality of living with the condition
of paranoid schizophrenia - but it's director Joe Wright who
somehow manages to fudge this film and stops it from soaring (even
though it does feel at times like a showreel for the 2010
Oscars).
The Soloist is more suited to the small screen than its big
screen release - you may be left pondering what's happened to both
of the characters after the end of the film but it certainly
provides much food for thought.
Extras: Commentary by Joe Wright, Deleted scenes,
Making the Soloist and featurette
Rating: 7/10
