The Soloist

Starring Robert Downey Jnr, Jamie Foxx. Directed by Joe Wright. M.

INSIDE LOOK: The Soloist offers unsentimental insights into mental illness.

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Not only does this touching, relevant film offer unsentimental insights into mental illness and being homeless, The Soloist is also an affecting true story about an unlikely friendship.

Based on a book by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, The Soloist tells of his developing relationship with Nathaniel Ayers, a gifted African-American street musician whose full potential has been stymied by psychiatric problems.

In 2005, Lopez first hears Ayers playing a two-string violin below a statue of Beethoven and is ultimately inspired to write a column about him. From this point on, the movie both flashes back to tell how Ayers became homeless and moves forward as Lopez tries to resurrect Ayers' life and musical skill.

In doing so, it visits a shadowland of the homeless – a skid-row part of LA where the disconnected, discombobulated and disturbed congregate, with real-life homeless people used as extras to play the addicts, the lost travellers, the helpless, forgotten and broken souls living precariously on the streets.

While Catherine Keener impresses, as usual, as Lopez's (fictional) ex-wife and Nelsan Ellis as a social worker gives voice to the homeless, The Soloist is basically a duet, with the more flamboyant Ayers played by Jamie Foxx, whose eyes can be wild and unfocused or sad and understanding as Ayers contends with his demons.

Ayers – who can talk in rapid stream-of-consciousness or be stonily silent – hears voices and is most likely paranoid schizophrenic, infused with obsessive-compulsive behaviour and sudden volatility. Foxx's performance recalls that of Geoffrey Rush in Shine (1996) and is further proof of what a fine actor Foxx (Ray, Collateral, Jarhead) is.

But the film's crucial role belongs to Robert Downey Jnr as Lopez. As a journalist, he is used to confronting social problems and moving on. This time, he gets personally involved – but trying to help Ayers, he is told, can be "like trying to stop an earthquake".

What Ayers most needs is a friend. Can Lopez be that person? Moreover, does he want that responsibility? It's this increasing dilemma that Lopez faces, which Downey superbly communicates, giving the film its honesty and engaging edge.

The Soloist has received mixed reviews, perhaps because it's not the feel-good charmer that Shine was, as it eschews any Hollywood temptation to substitute a satisfying sense of resolution for its real-life conclusion.

Attempts by Brit director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) to share what Ayers experiences are hit (the voices) and miss (music as colour imagery in his mind). Slapstick humour involving Lopez with coyote urine to get rid of raccoons is funny but unnecessary light relief.

The rest, however, is a pointed reminder of the kind of social problems too often neglected by a media generally more interested in superficial reporting and infotainment, be it another "reality" show or celebrity fixation. It also is a reminder of how compassion and social responsibility can make a difference in the lives of those living solo.

For me, The Soloist is one of the better films to have screened in Nelson this year and worthy of consideration in the upcoming expanded Oscar awards.

Watch the trailer for The Soloist:

- © Fairfax NZ News