| CultureWatch DVD Review -The Soloist |
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CultureWatch DVD Review  The Soloist Cert. 12 When Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.), a columnist on the Los Angeles Times, encounters a homeless man, Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), playing Beethoven on a two-stringed violin, his life is turned upside down. Steve is astonished by the man’s talent and stops to investigate. He discovers that Nathaniel was a brilliant cello student at the famous Julliard School, but has ended up living rough as a result of his mental health problems. Steve longs to help him, and he starts writing about Nathaniel in his column. It ends up taking both men to places they didn’t expect to go. The story catches the imagination of Steve’s readers. One of them donates a valuable cello, but Steve insists that Nathaniel can only have it if he moves into a hostel. Steve is convinced that he can ‘fix’ Nathaniel. Get a roof over his head, get him medication, get him tuition from a top cellist. But life isn’t so simple. There are no quick fixes, perhaps no solutions at all, for Nathaniel’s problems. And Steve gradually realises that Nathaniel is, in many ways, content. On the other hand, Steve’s life is a mess. He is divorced, his career is stalling and he has no real direction in life. He needs Nathaniel as a project, both for the sake of his work and, more fundamentally, his sense of self-worth. Great performances from both leading actors make this an engaging film, though tighter direction by Joe Wright could have made it stronger. It’s an emotional roller-coaster: we share Steve’s longing for Nathaniel to be ‘normal’, and feel the stress of setbacks, but we also experience moments of great joy. In one sequence, Nathaniel plays a piece of sublime music. Instead of watching him play, we see a beautiful abstract light show, giving us some idea of what is going on in Nathaniel’s head, as well as allowing us to focus on the music itself. It helps us to appreciate the extraordinary importance of music in Nathaniel’s mind. Steve, too, is also enormously affected by th  e music. Humans respond at very deep levels to the experience of beauty. Somehow, it reminds us of something beyond the simple physical facts of existence; it is transcendent. It’s an experience that points us beyond ourselves. Ultimately it points to the God who made us, who is the source of all truth, goodness and beauty. This article was first published on Damaris’ Culturewatch website (www.culturewatch.org) – used with permission. © Copyright Tony Watkins |
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