The Soloist

I've recently discovered my university's DVD library. My University's very free DVD library.

I'm a little ecstatic. There are so many films on my list and I finally feel the space and motivation to start ticking them off.

Starting with The Soloist.

Perhaps it was merely my own sentiments impressing themselves upon the screen, but something seemed to echo into the depths in this film. The scenes, the characters, and most of the dialogue had a sense of reality about them. An uncompromising touch, which whilst not always manifest, alluded to the real worlds of homelessness, schizophrenia and music in a way that didn't try to fully capture them. For the most part anyway. Snippets of imagery and written epilogue tried to tie a parcel together that in my opinion didn't really need much packaging. I found beauty in the raw state of it all. It felt more genuine without those elements.

It made me think about the broken world. The world of homelessness, diseases. It asks what it means to help someone, without giving an easy answer when there isn't one, and I felt that that was all this film really needed to be about, the other themes almost being forced at it's expense.

There was an uncompromising intimacy and poignancy to the character of Nathaniel and his relationship with Lopez that was sufficient, and it was that which resonated with me so strongly.

I was fortunate in being able to see past the shortcomings to capture what I think was the gold beneath; a refreshingly gritty portrayal.