Ramin Bahrani's "Goodbye Solo" achieves what only the best kind of movies can achieve: it leaves the viewer feeling invigorated by its fresh approach to filmmaking. When it's over you feel as though you understand life, people, and what it means to be American a little bit better than you did before the film began.
This is Bahrani's third film after 2005's "Man Push Cart," and 2007's "Chop Shop." Both movies are about immigrants living in America, how they survive, and how they deal with the realities of the American Dream.
In a Q & A after the screening, Bahrani elaborated on his treatment of immigrants in America: "Even though 'Chop Shop' contains a primarily Latino cast, you're not going to see any Latin dancing. And even though the main character of 'Goodbye Solo' was a Senegalese immigrant I obviously didn't include any African drumming."
Bahrani himself is an Iranian-American from North Carolina where he said that the population essentially consisted of, "White people, some black people, and then there was my family." Because of the fact that he felt slightly out of place growing up, he makes films about immigrants to illustrate the fact that immigrants are not "visitors." Rather, he believes that they are the representatives of a new American population.
Indeed there is no African drumming in "Goodbye Solo," because, as an audience member pointed out, Bahrani wisely does not "knock [the viewer] over the head with cultural diversity." These characters are just as American as everyone else, and they are not defined by their cultural heritage. Bahrani has been hailed as "the new great American director" by Roger Ebert, and A.O. Scott proclaimed that Bahrani-along with Kelly Reichardt who directed 2008's sublimely naturalistic "Wendy and Lucy," and Ryan Fleck who directed 2006's powerful "Half Nelson"-represents a fledgling movement in American filmmaking which Scott terms "neo-neo realism."
As Scott says: "A handful of young American directors are making clear-eyed movies for hard times."
In this climate of economic recession and uncertainty, the most powerful and accurate portraits of American life must be taken with quiet, unflinching realism.
The film itself has a simple story: a potentially suicidal southern man named William (Red West) hires a Senegalese immigrant cabby named Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) to drive him to Blowing Rock National park in 10 days time. When Solo asks him if he wants to be driven back, William simply stares. Disturbed, Solo asks him what he plans to do at the top of Blowing Rock. William simply says, "mind your own fucking business." No, this film is not "Driving Miss Daisy" for the new millennium, far from it. Solo is kind hearted, but he is far from simple minded. He quickly figures out the nature of William's trip to Blowing Rock, and from the moment William enters his cab, Solo senses such intense sadness that he is moved to help in any way he can.
Solo makes sure that whenever William requests a cab, the dispatcher will assign the fare to him. Before long, the two men become a part of each others lives, even though William doesn't want any part in Solo's life and doesn't want Solo to have any part in his. William meets Solo's family, which includes his pregnant wife Quiera (Carmen Leyva), and Quiera's young daughter Alex (Diana Franco Galindo). Alex is an exceptionally bright and perceptive young girl, and her intelligence manages to amaze even William. William even becomes somewhat proud of the gifted young girl, stating "Alex is so smart. I wonder who she will become."
Part of Bahrani's technique involves allowing the faces of the actors to provide emotional context, and like most great filmmakers Bahrani knows that the human face provides information more artfully than action or expository dialogue. Bahrani, much like Kelly Reichardt recognizes that the most powerful experiences in human relationships come from the things that are left unsaid. And with the character of William the things that are left unsaid all seem to point to a man whose life is full of regrets, a man who is left with nothing but bitterness and melancholy in the twilight of his American Dream. Most of the credit here belongs to the wonderful acting from Red West and Souléymane Sy Savané, whose faces and speech patterns seem to embody the sou
ls of their characters. West was a childhood friend of Elvis Presley, and grew up to become one of the King's most trusted bodyguards. After Presley's death West moved on to acting where he had character roles in the films of legendary directors such as Oliver Stone and Robert Altman along with some stunt work and bit roles. His craggy, weathered features are perfect for playing a geriatric, good ol' boy whose general disposition is to look mean.Savané is a fashion model from the Ivory Coast, and he perfectly portrays a man who is clever, easy going, and capable of unconditional kindness. As Bahrani said in his Q & A, "Goodbye Solo" is a film about the extent of human kindness, and how far someone will go to help a person that they care for or even love. It's also about how two people who have no reason to like each other, with completely different cultural backgrounds and nothing in common, could develop such a relationship
"Goodbye Solo" will be coming back to Philadelphia in May. It's the kind of movie that makes you realize that 90 percent of the films that are being released in this country today are simply products being marketed by big studios, there is no personal vision
If you're content to simply go to a movie so that you can watch some flashing pictures with some background noise, and then promptly forget about everything you've just seen as soon as the credits begin to roll, so be it. But to those who don't fit in to that category, go see "Goodbye Solo." I promise you that you will feel more alive when the film has ended.
Originally printed in SJU's The Hawk: April 8th, 2009
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