Review of The Soloist (2009) by Amheretojudge — 16 Sep 2018

The overdose casts catastrophic images..

The Soloist The Soloist is a character driven musical drama about a journalist discovering a talented homeless musician and justifies it by offering the appropriate stage to him. Music playing a vital role on conveying the message, Wright tells a tale that rhymes and makes you tap on its uplifting beats. The background score is extraordinary, the sound effects are sharp, the camera work is busy and yet competent with decent cinematography and editing that makes it fast and effective at the same time. The magnitude of the intensity is communicated directly through maker's depiction of various episodes of characters that never gets pretentious nor undercooked. The pathos world through which it lures the audience in, works until it flows through the tale, as soon as it gets manipulative, the overdose casts catastrophic images onto us where the earned respect up till then, is shucked away only to leave a long lasting impression on the audience. Downey Jr. is reserved and mature than others as always whilst on the other hand challenging him with equivalency Foxx is original in his innocence. The narration by Downey Jr. is thoughtful along with debatable conversation that are layered and above all, Foxx's murmuring and his ability to bare with it and to top it off respond to it; their chemistry is electrifying. Armed with a repetitive and over thought out adaptation, Wright's execution is comparatively good and binds it all with a gritty practical approach. Few meltdowns where the emotions communicates fluently, an innocent concept and the caliber of the cast that Wright fiddles with, are the high points of the feature. The spark that ignites the passion and enthusiasm among the viewers wears off in its latter stages due to the over chewing of an idea. The Soloist is a poorly ridden potential premise that should undeniably be appreciated but beyond that, it is a forsaken land.