The Soloist

Joe Wright’s The Soloist is an aesthetically and emotionally brilliant film. Based off of true events, it tells the story of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Jr., a gifted musician who unfortunately loses any recognizable sanity. The narrator is Steve Lopez, a staff writer with a widely popular column at the LA Times. Mister Lopez, like Ayers, has recently had a few impediments in career and societal areas. These two, after a couple awkward and difficult encounters, develop a bond that helps and educates them both.

Steve Lopez is a journalist whose stories would largely be classified as human-interest stories. He stumbles across Nathaniel Ayers while recovering from researching a Blood Donor Clinic. He hears the muted sound of a violin in the distance and wanders to a statue of Beethoven only to find destitute man playing a damaged and vandalized instrument. The conversation is slow to start and understand, as Ayers continually digresses and deviates via loose tangents in whatever off-hand comment he or Lopez makes. Lopez inquires about a few names written on a palm tree located near the Beethoven effigy and Ayers responds by saying that the names were that of his classmates at Julliard. After confirming this conjecture, Lopez abruptly realizes that Ayers would make a superb subject for his column, which is aptly dubbed Pointwest. Then the madness ensues.

Lopez has dived into the rabbit hole that is Nathaniel Ayers and his crime-filled abode Skid Row. His first column inspires a former musician to donate a proper cello to Ayers. Lopez subsequently passes along the gift to Ayers who is taken aback by the generosity. And so begins the slow and difficult process towards rehabilitation. Nathaniel can readily be categorized as a contrarian. He opposes adopting an apartment as a home, he resists playing his newly acquired instrument at the Lamp Shelter, he fights efforts by Lopez to have his mental disorders professionally diagnosed and treated. All were attempts by Steve, whom Nathaniel says he has chosen as his God, to normalize Nathaniel. Lopez constantly worries if his actions are best method to improve Nathaniel’s situation, largely because of Ayers’ hostility to change. Do not mistake Lopez’s efforts as invariably against Ayer’s wishes because such sentiment is far from the truth. Lopez invites Ayers to a practice recital at the LA Philharmonic which Ayers immensely enjoys, and there are many more examples to boot. After ardent opposition, Nathaniel makes a few concessions, such as moving into the apartment, but by and large Ayers remains that unforgettable, schizophrenic character.

The Soloist incorporates all elements of beautiful and masterful cinema. It is aesthetically pleasing in its shots of LA’s poorer communities and infrastructural marvels; it conveys a beautiful story via realistic dialogue, wonderful directing and acting, and a bit of well-placed paranoia. The two main characters have a wonderful relationship and acts as perfect comic foils. But most importantly, The Soloist finds genius in the most unlikely of places. This film brilliantly integrates comedy, drama, tragedy, and near horror. The Soloist, as Lopez says of Ayers’ music, “will take you home.”