The Soloist

The Soloist is a movie based on a book by LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, the true story of his friend with the schizophrenic street musician Nathaniel Ayers, who Lopez met while searching for an idea for his column. Instead of becoming just another human interest piece, Nathaniel and Steve became friends – each having a significant impact on the other. In the film Steve brings Nathaniel’s virtuosity to light, and assists him with a few practical things, like finding a bed to sleep in. Nathaniel, just by being Steve’s friend, really causes Steve to do some serious soul-searching, enriching the writer’s self-knowledge and emotional depth. The message becomes that if we look outside of ourselves and are brave enough to risk emotional connection we redeem each other, and by extension, humanity.

Steve Lopez is played with wit and heart by Robert Downey Jr. while Nathaniel Ayers is played with vulnerability and soul. Both characters are extremely complex, and both actors deliver the goods, expressing that complexity through both gesture and dialogue. The script is great – sometimes with true stories of an emotional nature, dialogue can feel overwritten, stilted, or unreal. Here, the screenplay does the story justice, respecting the subject matter by avoiding over-sentimentality. By resisting the overly sentimental, and relying on story there is an honesty in the film that is more effective in tear-making than the most flowery language could possibly produce. I particularly love this film because it also sends the message that art is important, transformative, and redemptive and that writers, even in an age where publishing is in jeopardy and the future of the written word is uncertain, still have an impact on the world.

The true story of The Soloist as well as the film create hope. And that is well worth watching.