Movie Review: The Soloist

This past Tuesday, I won early screening tickets to see The Soloist starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx and directed by Joe Wright (Atonement). It follows a journalist, Steve Lopez (Downey), for the L.A. Times on his journey of finding short pieces to write. He ends up meeting Nathanial Anthony Ayers Jr. (Foxx) as he is walking around one day in L.A. He listens to his music and learns that Mr. Ayers attended Juilliard. Lopez becomes fascinated with Mr. Ayers and starts writing pieces about him. He also starts learning about his past and how he fell in love with music. Mr. Lopez also starts to learn the Ayers sufferers from schizophrenia and that is why he was never able to graduate or perform his music. Ayers denies his schizophrenia and it only flares up when he is about to perform for an audience or is in an experience where his schizophrenia has heightened in his past. 

The movie portrays the friendship and bond between these two characters and it has a heart felt feeling throughout the movie. It shows the importance of never giving up on someone and always being there just to be a friend. I enjoyed this movie, however I felt that it did drag on a bit. The run time is two hours and the cast is excellent. My favorite scene is when Ayers and Lopez are sitting at a rehearsal for the L.A. Symphony and the movie shows you how Ayers sees the music. It is fascinating. I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.