ShareThis"The Soloist" is a duet, with two master performers collaborating for an absorbing medley.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx tackle challenging roles with effortless panache in a real-life tale about a complicated friendship between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and homeless, mentally ill classical musician Nathaniel Ayers.
Based on Lopez's book and columns, the drama examines the dysfunctional bond between reporter and subject, blurring the lines of ethics and social graces. As Lopez helps Ayers get his life back on track, he's also exploiting him for copy. The men develop an intense connection that causes Lopez's ex-wife and editor (Catherine Keener) to refer to Ayers as his boyfriend.
The bond is more of a father-son thing, or as the motor-mouthed, incoherently babbling Ayers sees it, god and worshipper. Although one minute Ayers is hailing Lopez as a deity and the next he's threatening to gut him like a fish.
Lopez, who never shows a flicker of fear of Ayers or his junkie/hustler-plagued surroundings, risks his career and well-being to help Ayers find his way. When they first meet, Lopez is bloodied from a bike accident and Ayers is playing a two-stringed violin. In the middle of a stream-of-consciousness diatribe, Ayers tells Lopez he trained at Juilliard, which stokes the writer into turning Ayers into front-page news.
Lopez continues to hang out with Ayers, who is stubbornly determined to stay on the streets while refusing therapy and medication. That doesn't deter Lopez from doing everything he can to steer Ayers back to civilized life. Lopez gives Ayers a cello sent in by a reader and shepherds him to a shelter and, eventually, a place of his own, all the while scoring him world-class lessons and a shot to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic rehearse.
It's unclear whether Lopez is helping Ayers because he actually cares or because the musician keeps giving the reporter such good material, which lands him awards and a book deal. Maybe Lopez isn't quite sure himself; after all, he's been so career-driven that he's alienated his ex-wife and son. In a telling moment, Lopez marvels at the way Ayers is in love with music, remarking that he's never loved anything in his life that much.
Director Joe Wright ("Pride & Prejudice," "Atonement"), embellishes Ayers' musical obsession with glorious, near-outrageous flourishes, including pigeons soaring into the air, flapping their wings as if applauding, as well as a psychedelic montage in which the music turns into shifting colors that fill the screen.
The movie also serves as something of a requiem for the struggling newspaper industry, with several references to the Times' layoffs epidemic.
While Downey is dialed-down and restrained, looking and sounding a lot like George Clooney in "Michael Clayton," Foxx is unchained and has a glorious time channeling his inner crazy street dude. Ayers speaks in the rhythm of a symphony, spitting out words that sound right but make no sense in an improvisational hodgepodge.
Although "The Soloist" sometimes moves slowly and runs a little long, the humor, beautiful music and two virtuoso performances bring the film to a fascinating crescendo.
3.5 stars out of 4
Rated: PG-13 for thematic elements, drug use and language.
Family call: Meant for adults.
Running time: 109 minutes.
(Pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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