The Soloist B

In Theatres, Rated PG-13, 109 Minutes
“Based on a True Story”, especially when it involves the emotionally disabled, is generally shorthand for sentimentality and shameless tear-jerkery. “Starring Robert Downey Jr”., on the other hand, is code for cool. So it was with some ambivalance that I consented to see The Soloist, starring not just Downey Jr., but Jamie Foxx and Catherine Keener to boot. While it didn’t manage to dodge all the potholes inherent in its genre, it missed most of them and boasts three excellent performances.

Robert Downey Jr. stars as LA Times columnist Steve Lopez who stumbles onto the homeless Nathaniel Ayers, inhabited by Jamie Foxx, playing a two-stringed violin in the shadow of a statue of Beethoven. Ayers mentions he attended Juillard and Lopez smells a story—and finds one. The problem is, stories about charming, intelligent, schizophrenics with genius and demons to spare aren’t one-and-outers. They build. And as this one builds, Lopez and Ayers build a relationship that starts out as mutual dependence—Ayers on Lopez for musical instruments and a piece of humanity, and Lopez on Ayers for a story—and ends in friendship. To get there, though, Steve has to quit trying to fix Ayers and start excepting him. Not easy. Along the way Steve is forced to re-evaluate his relationship with his ex-wife and current boss played by Catherine Keener.

Downey is predictably great as Lopez. He plays every scene straight, never ducking into sap for a second even when British director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) does. Catherine Keener gets sexier by the year. While she’s in just half-a-dozen scenes, she establishes herself as the emotional bedrock that Lopez leans on. She’s content to only hint at the kind of complexity and depth that comes with a twenty-year relationship. Still, this is Foxx’s film. Hate or love this guy, he can act, and he plays Ayers without an ounce of sensationalism or indulgence. While he’s gifted and talks of music, and Lopez, in hushed tones and exalted language, his illness is never far away. When Lopez mistakenly mentions the wrong name and Nathaniel attacks him with punches, it’s a terrible, terrific scene. One that leaves you scared for Steve’s life. Which leads me to this: the issue of homeless is handled perfectly here. There are no easy answers. Ayers is ill, and he wants to live on the streets where he can play for the City of Angels and the birds. What do we do with that? Faith is also handled fairly, with the faith-based rescue mission Ayers eventually becomes involved with looking like the saints they most certainly are. At the same time, another good-intentioned Christian’s attempt to manipulate Ayers with the use of stewardship is (rightly) looked upon as simplistic and destructive.

This is a good film, better than I expected going in, but still a little slow and lacking closure except for a small amount that seems shoe-horned in around Lopez. B