Stunning performances are done in by directorial touches that under cut the magic

Rating: 6/10 (26 April 2009)

After a spill on a bicycle a recuperating Steve Lopez heres music playing on the street and makes the acquaintance of Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless man and musical genius, who is playing music on a two string violin. In the course of writing about Ayers for his LA paper Lopez a friendship forms between the two men that changes both of them.
Uneven based on a true story tale about how friendship can alter the way we behave and see the world. The problem is that there have been so many stories like this that some of it comes off as clichéd. What isn't cliché is the performances and the very real bond between Robert Downey as Lopez and and Jamie Fox as Ayers.Say what you will when the pair are on screen together there is a good chance that the film will transcend any other problems it maybe having.
Let me try to explain where the problems in the film come from. There is this moment where Lopez brings Ayers a cello, his original instrument of choice. Lopez wants his friend to go to a shelter to play the instrument but he refuses. They argue and Lopez allows Ayers to play the cello one time before taking to the shelter. Ayers begins to play... and magic happens.As the music happens the camera focuses on the faces of the two men and from the facial expressions alone we know the magic of music. No words, no images are needed beyond that. Unfortunately director Joe Wright doesn't trust the images and he goes for the stereotypical birds flying to illustrate what we are seeing in the faces of the two men. In another seen we see music as color. Why? Why go for the easy way out when everything he needed to do was just show the faces. For me the film's spell gets broken each time and just as I started to well up I groaned in annoyance. There are several instances where this happens, where Wright goes for the the "cliché".(The flashback scenes of Ayers early life seems to be all cliché.) This isn't to say the film is bad. Its not. Its one of those annoying "solidly good films that really should be a great one". I kept watching because the film repeatedly soars, unfortunately it also usually makes a bone headed choice that drops it down a point or two. Personally I think the film is worth a look especially if you are a fan of the two leads or just like great acting.
Somewhere over 6 out of 10 over all, with moments that are way above it.