Goodbye Solo (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bruce B

  
  Nothing short of Excellent. About a man who is about to end his life, and Solo played by Souléymane Sy Savané does everything he can't to prevent it from happing. Not one you will see on any film list but a top ten in my book. 5 Stars. Filmed in and around Blowing Rock North… More
  Nothing short of Excellent. About a man who is about to end his life, and Solo played by Souléymane Sy Savané does everything he can't to prevent it from happing. Not one you will see on any film list but a top ten in my book. 5 Stars. Filmed in and around Blowing Rock North Carolina.

• Alireza M

  
  It deserved more attention.This small,independent movie easily touches our heart.

• danny d

  
  a beautiful piece of cinema and one of the more underrated films of 2009. a very unique story and incredible performance by savane, the story is stripped down to nothing but the essentials. the film poses dozens of questions and answers only a few of them, but for this story it… More
  a beautiful piece of cinema and one of the more underrated films of 2009. a very unique story and incredible performance by savane, the story is stripped down to nothing but the essentials. the film poses dozens of questions and answers only a few of them, but for this story it doesnt detract. we only know what solo knows, and its better that way. excellent film.

• Mike N

  
  As much as this title could've worked for the events at the end of Empire Strikes Back, a sequence of events forever frozen in movie carbonite of awesomeness, it somehow works better here. Goodbye Solo is a terrific movie of simple yet profound emotional power, under the… More
  As much as this title could've worked for the events at the end of Empire Strikes Back, a sequence of events forever frozen in movie carbonite of awesomeness, it somehow works better here. Goodbye Solo is a terrific movie of simple yet profound emotional power, under the load-bearing pillars of its 2 main characters: William (Red West) and Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané). The movie opens by dropping the viewer off into a conversation that builds the skeleton for the rest of the film (a process that adds its heart and soul): Solo, a Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is taking William, a grizzled old man with a calloused face, to a movie theater, innocently enough. William makes Solo an offer: in 10 days' time, drive him to Blowing Rock National Park for a cool grand - far more than the fare for a few hours' drive is worth. No return trip is mentioned. Solo, ever inquisitive, jokingly stumbles into the truth as he deluges William with questions. This forges Solo's mindset into one of curiosity translated through relentless good cheer, and yet the cantankerous William, brusquely protecting himself from too many questions with an f-bomb minefield, remains unfazed. Or does he? As the film proceeds, we find Solo jockeying himself at dispatch to become William's exclusive cab driver, and whether William is just too tired or just doesn't care, his passiveness allows Solo to ferret his way into William's days. Very naturally presented is Solo being married to Quiera (whom is pregnant with Solo's first child), is a stepfather to bright young Alex, and is interviewing to become a flight attendant. Solo unflinchingly shares all of this with William, perhaps as a tactic to provoke William to share, but if so it fails, as the viewer knows only as much as Solo does about William's life - which is to say, not much. Solo, along with the audience, continues to observe William, sometimes going out of his way to do so, trying to find out why this old man wants to go on a one-way mission to Blowing Rock to... well, it remains unsaid, but everybody knows it. Solo wants to help. It is in his nature. But, William snipes every advance to be helped; he is as resolved as his face is etched with years. Roger Ebert has a great line in describing these protagonists: "William's face was made to look pissed off; Solo's face was made to smile." So right. And it goes a long way to visually depict the difference between these two characters, and how they act. Speaking of which, nothing felt like acting in this movie - nobody is recognizable. Equally authentic is the movie's "soundtrack," which consists of what's on the radio in Solo's cab and the random noises of the night (and day) of Winston-Salem. This emphasizes the movie's almost minimalist intimacy all the more - kind of a documentarian's view of Winston-Salem, and of these two souls, very simply, being who they are with each other. An undercurrent of sorrow murmurs with each passing scene, despite Solo's infectious upbeatness. Slowly, we begin to see the depth of emotion glistening in the eyes of both William and Solo as the 10th day nears, as a few grains of truth about William's movie theater missions are revealed, and as Solo's life undergoes new changes. There is no cavalcade of dramatic events; just their lives having grown because of each other, very honestly and powerfully punctuated when Solo discovers William's small journal of observations over the past several days they spent together. It is in these final few scenes of Goodbye Solo that it takes an elegiac tone, as so much seems to have been set in place that fates simply could not be averted. You just have to accept it, even if there was an infinitesimal reason for avoiding it that may have germinated over the days spent. What is unmistakable, however, is that Solo and William were all the more enriched for each other throughout this film. And I all the more enriched for having witnessed it.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Goodbye Solo" is another heartfelt slice of life movie from Ramin Bahrani that is sadly not able to measure up to his previous two efforts. This time around, he is a bit more ambitious in telling the story of Solo(Souleymane Sy Savane), a cab driver… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Goodbye Solo" is another heartfelt slice of life movie from Ramin Bahrani that is sadly not able to measure up to his previous two efforts. This time around, he is a bit more ambitious in telling the story of Solo(Souleymane Sy Savane), a cab driver from Senegal, living in Winston-Salem who dreams of becoming a flight attendant. That is not as compelling as the dreams of other men becoming their own man in "Man Push Cart" and "Chop Shop" which may be because Solo is about to become a father for the first time. So, he has more important things to care about which changes one night when he picks up William(Red West) to drive him to a movie theater. Along the way, William asks him to take him to a local mountain and leave him there for $1000 on October 20. At first, Solo thinks he is joking but then realizes he is not and becomes personally involved.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]As far as other movie references go, I know other people have brought up "A Taste of Cherry" and I was also thinking of "Ballad of Narayama" but that could be because I have just seen it. There is also definitely an odd couple vibe in the relationship between the taciturn William and garrulous Solo. At least, William does not seem to be much of a racist. [/font]

• Jeff T

  
  This itty bitty barely-a-movie both requires and rewards patience. The tiny story of a cab driver in Winston-Salem and the crabby old man he tries and tries to befriend also happens to be about all the big stuff: how to be a friend, how to live your life and maybe even how to not… More
  This itty bitty barely-a-movie both requires and rewards patience. The tiny story of a cab driver in Winston-Salem and the crabby old man he tries and tries to befriend also happens to be about all the big stuff: how to be a friend, how to live your life and maybe even how to not live it at all anymore. Specal and not for everybody, but well worth the trip.

• deb .

  
  <b>"You like birds, Big Dog? Are you going to fly away?"</b> A touching, sober film on the polarities of personalities, life and our choices. Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) is a young taxi driver full of hope for the future and William (Red West) is basically… More
  <b>"You like birds, Big Dog? Are you going to fly away?"</b> A touching, sober film on the polarities of personalities, life and our choices. Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) is a young taxi driver full of hope for the future and William (Red West) is basically finished with hope. Some have described this film as riveting and inspiring but I would disagree. I found it sad and realistic.

• Richard F

  
  Hello, "Solo", and welcome to my list of the ten best movies of the year. This didn't quite make the 5 star rating, but I can't quite put my finger on why. Nevertheless, this "Visitor"-like film gets high marks.

• Quinto W

  
  I knew next to nothing about this movie before watching it and was completely surprised at how much it moved me. Both main characters are loneliness personified and it's very touching and intriguing to see how their paths cross. It has a very genuine humanity to it.

• MJS M

  
  You may have never heard of Ramin Bahrani, but his films are among the most important movies coming out of the United States today. Bahrani has made three films now and while none of them have come close to penetrating the mainstream, all of them have an aura of something new and… More
  You may have never heard of Ramin Bahrani, but his films are among the most important movies coming out of the United States today. Bahrani has made three films now and while none of them have come close to penetrating the mainstream, all of them have an aura of something new and special. His distinct style clearly owes a lot to the Italian Neo-Realist movement (some have glibly called his style neo-neo-realism), as each film depicts a character struggling to survive in poverty and he extensively uses non actors in order to make everything as authentic as possible. I discovered his first film, Man Push Cart, on the Sundance Channel and was immediately transfixed by the travails of the central character as he tried desperately to make ends meet on the streets of New York. His follow up, Chop Shop, also depicted a side of the big apple which has heretofore gone unnoticed by the general public and the world seemed all the more tragic because it was a child placed at the center of the film. My opinion of both of these films has only grown upon reflection and I was certainly excited to see what Bahrani would show us next. His newest film, Goodbye Solo, shifts locations from New York to North Carolina but this does nothing to diminish the newest fascinating slice of life from this important filmmaker. The film opens in a taxi cab driven by Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané), a Senegalese immigrant with a young family who aspires to become a flight attendant and leave behind his cab. In the back seat of the car is William (Red West), a grumpy old man who?s become very depressed and disillusioned as of late. William has made a proposition to Solo, in a few weeks he wants to be driven out to an area landmark called the Blowing Rock, he doesn?t want a return trip. Solo asks if William plans to jump off this rock but receives no answer. After Solo accepts a hundred dollar deposit for this grim task he decides to try befriending William in hopes of eventually dissuading him from his suicidal plans, but William may be beyond saving at this point. While Bahrani?s first two films were squarely focused on a single character, this one focuses on a pair of them. Solo, like the immigrants in the first two films, is trying to slowly build a life for himself through tedious day to day work. Unlike the other two, he?s got a family of sort including a step daughter. The other major character is William, who?s played by veteran bit player Red West, though if this were a mainstream film he probably would have been played by someone like Nick Nolte. He?s a gruff old man who doesn?t speak a lot and who isn?t willing to wear his heart on his sleeve. William always resists Solo?s attempts to help him, but one gets a sense of growing respect between the two. This relationship could have easily turned into a saccharine weep-fest were the story placed in the wrong hands, but Bahrani does a very careful tightrope walk and makes the story real rather than contrived. A big part of the appeal in Bahrani?s films is the way they let you eavesdrop into the lives of people you normally don?t have contact with. Chop Shop was particularly good at this; it was set in the middle of Queens but felt like it was set in a foreign country. Goodbye Solo does not maintain this same sense of foreignness, but it does feel like it?s peaking into a part of the country that isn?t always fun to think about. Bahrani has never ended on an overwhelmingly unhappy note, and each one of them has been more hopeful than the last. The ending of Goodbye Solo is particularly strong in the way it manages to balance hope and melancholy through a few well chosen images. Writing this, I consistently find myself referring back to Bahrani?s previous work and comparing. Such is the nature of the man?s oeuvre, in a particularly auteurist way he?s managed to make statements in individual films that are magnified by their place in a larger body of work. These are some of the best films about the American immigrant experience that I?ve ever seen and in bringing the techniques of Italian neo-realism into the 21st century, Bahrani has crafted a unique style that has only improved over the course of three films. I?m dying to know where Bahrani goes from here, until then we have a trilogy of excellent films to admire.

• Daisy M

  
  <a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.tinypic.com/27yrew0.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> Goodbye Solo was a marvelous movie directed by a Persian American… More
  <a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.tinypic.com/27yrew0.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> Goodbye Solo was a marvelous movie directed by a Persian American director Ramin Bahrani. The story of a cab driver, named Solo played by Souleyman Sy Savane. One night he picked up a passenger named William,who asked him to drive him to a secret place on a specific date. William was a bitter man who just wants to be left alone. All he wanted was to be dropped off the cinema every night, and talk to the young man at the ticket sales. Solo wanted to help William in so many ways, trying to make a friendship with this man who has been beaten by life. That was the purpose of the movie, they had nothing in common except the fact that both of them had some rough times in their lives. This movie was sweet, sometimes humorous and very enjoyable to watch.This is one movie you should not miss.

• Sarah B

  
  One of the best of the year so far.

Read all 12 featured audience ratings