Homelessness, mental illness and classical music

Rating: 7/10 (20 March 2011)

The Soloist was clearly an Oscar bait film, a film based on a book and a true story, has the issues of classical music, homelessness and mental issues, stars two very respected actors, set in Los Angeles and directed by a director with a growing reputation. But it did not pan out that way for the filmmakers.
Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times looking for a story. By a chance encounter Steve meets Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless man but a gifted musician despite only having a two string violin. Steve investigates and finds out Nathaniel had dropped out of Juilliard. It is obvious that Nathaniel is suffering mental illness and Steve sets out to help the man whilst writing about him for the newspaper. Steve's columns start to pull the heartstrings of the city and bring the issues of homelessness and the LAMP Community Center to the attention of the city's authorities. But as Steve gets closer to Nathaniel it is clear that Nathaniel is unstable.
The Soloist best feature is the acting and Downey and Foxx have excellent chemistry. Foxx does the best job, making Nathaniel having a calm but erratic speech pattern. He is a man who looks deep inside and does not really want to face the world: Steve is the only person who makes him. Foxx also has to show when Nathaniel turns and being more aggressive. Downey is of course a gifted actor and you can believe in the friendship between the two men, but I do not like the way his character was written to be a bit of a klutz. It's not Downey's fault but it was like they wanted a cheap laugh.
Joe Wright is of course a director with a future and as I write this I am personally looking forward to his next film Hanna. The Soloist is obviously an attempt for Wright to step away from his confront zone, period English drama. He does attempt to make The Soloist more visual, with tracking shots (but you really do not want a tracking shot over a load of toilet cubicles. But many of these visual tricks felt a bit forces, almost like look at me, whether it was looking at a papier-mâché globe with a hurricane and it turns into TV footage of Hurricane Karina or when Nathaniel is in a concert hall and he can see the music. I personally preferred the more grounded stuff set in the Los Angeles inner-city, showing how homeless people are suffering from their addictions. They stuff had a bit more bite to it. I do like some of the references to Amadeus, with the young version of Nathaniel practicing the cello with his arm and you could hear the music in his head. There is also great classic music as you would expect from a film like this.
One of the major issues is homelessness in America. In America it is clear that quite a lot of homeless people have mental health issues and since state and federal does not do anything to help them. In Europe or anywhere else in the industrialised world people like that would be put into care and given the treatment they need. The America healthcare system was a real joke, where you only got decent care if you could afford it, not based on need, a system that only profits insurance and pharmaceutical companies is put ahead of the care of the parent: a system fully supported by the Republican party! Rant over.
Within the film there is flashbacks about Nathaniel showing he was a child prodigy and his time in Juilliard as he descents into madness. To me that would have been a very dark and interesting film about how he became homeless and his only outlet was classical music. But that's just me.