Goodbye Solo explores human drama

Posted By Joni MacFarlane, Editor

Posted 3 months ago

An audience favourite at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, “Goodbye Solo”, has received rave critical reviews as a thoughtful and original human drama that looks at relationships and loneliness.

Directed by Ramin Bahrani, an Iranian-American filmmaker, the movie uses perfectly cast characters and concentrates the action in a specific geographical place.

Instantly, the viewer is immersed into the lives of the characters, as we find ourselves inside a cab driven by Solo, a Senegalese cab driver working to provide a better life for his young family. He has been described as one of the most remarkable characters in recent cinema.

On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Solo’s passenger, is seventy-year-old William, a tough Southern good ‘ol boy with a lifetime of regrets. One man’s American dream is just beginning while the other’s is quickly winding down.

The film traces an improbable friendship between the two men that changes both their lives. Despite their differences, both men realize they need each other more than either is willing to admit and an unforgettable friendship is forged.

In addition to the human drama played out before us, “Goodbye Solo” explores the passing of a generation and the rapidly changing face of America.

Bahrani casts a luminous spell over his deceptively simple tale, by keeping the story moving forward while extracting flawless, fully lived-in performances.

“Goodbye Solo” is the highly anticipated fourth film in the Allied Arts Council’s Monday Night at the Movies series and will be shown at the Orpheum Theatre in Blairmore on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 at the door.