A wonderful movie about our common humanity

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2009)

Summary (Nutshell)
"The Soloist" sets out to be the quest of an LA Times journalist Steve Lopez searching for interesting story. Not content with choosing from the plethora of mundane topics, he starts looking for the everyday person, worth writing about. He discovers a homeless man, playing his two-string violin under a statue of Beethoven, in the middle of Los Angeles. This brief encounter quickly develops into a more intricate relationship. Lopez finds himself sympathetic to help the homeless Mr. Ayers. Suffering from schizophrenic delusions, Ayers can only express himself through one of his many instruments, preferably the Cello. Lopez embarks on a mission to reintegrate Ayers into society, by facilitating his love for classical music; this proofs more difficult than he thought.
Comment:
As a fellow musician, I've found myself very compassionate with Ayers' love for Beethoven. When you close your eyes, the music floods your mind, dozens of instruments play at the same time, but instead of suffering from sensory overload, you form a unit with the symphony, resonating with every note, feeling the composer's love, anger and passion. By playing the piece, we are able to reconstruct and reunite with an indescribable beauty, so simple in nature, yet which will never fade, even when the meaning of words left us long ago. Ayers' offers a glimpse into a highly talented musician, who is confined by his social status and medical condition, but yet someone who is able to enchant his listeners when he plays.
Robert Downey Jr.'s and Jamie Foxx's performance was absolutely stellar. Jamie Foxx is an unbelievable actor, his performance in Ray was already phenomenal, but I believe he has outdone himself as Ayers. He seems to be able to understand the musical mind and can portray the forces that drive/restrict it. I highly recommend watching this music.
Our endless struggle for self-fulfillment is a struggle, we have to fight for ourselves. 8/10