Goodbye Solo (2008) User Reviews (57)

Bringing it all back home

[Chris Knipp · 9/10 · 18 April 2009]

This third feature from Iranian-descent North Carolinian Bahrani takes a theme from Abbas Kiarostami's 'The Taste of Cherries,' of a man seeking a driver to help him commit suicide, and makes it as American and Edward Hopper as night movie ticket windows, sleazy motel rooms, road houses, cabs on call, and fractured families. Bahrani's surefooted story blends elements of Kafkaesque nightmare and shaggy dog story and, though well grounded in realistic, no-nonsense images and everyday settings, is also surrounded in mystery. What's behind this plan of William (Red West) to be driven from Winston-Salem to the windy heights of Blowing Rock? We only know that he has some sketchy relationship to a boy selling tickets at a movie theater, has sold his house, and then, helped by the cab driver, grimly moves into a cheap motel room with a few belongings.

For a driver, William has somehow gotten saddled with Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane), a friendly and garrulous Senegalese with a Mexican wife, Quiera (Carmen Leyva), and a clever little stepdaughter, Alex (Diana Franco Galindo. Quiera is pregnant with Solo's child, but they are at odds over his plan to become a flight attendant, and Solo seems half in and half out of the house. From the evening when William gives him a hundred dollars as advance on a $1,000 payment to take him to Blowing Rock on a set day, which he strongly suspects is to do away with himself, Solo refuses to let the gruff old man alone. He takes William out to play pool and drink and then sleep it off at his house. When his wife objects he moves into William's motel room for a while. He makes sure no other drivers from the W.C.C. cab company pick up William. William is trying to shut down, but Solo won't let him.

After a while you realize the focus is not so much on what will happen to William as what will happen to Solo, that Solo's own situation is shaky, mysterious, and perhaps desperate, and that you're not going to find any ultimate answers about either of the two men who are now so oddly conjoined. The key to the story is the story, and Bahrani makes excellent use of the inner and outer nature of his two principals and their checkered careers. Red West was a Marine, stuntman, and boxer, and later a bodyguard for Elvis Presley, and his face has a John Ford cowboy hero's weathered graininess. When he lights a cig and stares into space it's no act. Sy Savane is a one-time fashion model and African TV star and a Winston-Salem cab driver who was a flight attendant for an African airline. He knows the answers to the flight attendant exam Solo's studying for, except that Solo fails the interview. He is athletic and handsome and the radiance of his smile suffuses his whole face. But for all his confidence there's a sense that Solo's dodging about the edges of Winston-Salem because he has friends on the dark side, but he's still an outsider. Bahrani's previous 'Chop Shop' focused on Latino kids eeking out a living amid the competing de facto car parts dealers in the Iron Triangle of Willets Point, Queens. Here he takes it all back home, because North Carolina is where he grew up, even if he felt like an outsider. 'Goodbye, Solo' feels more securely grounded but also more open--an impression visually underlined when Solo drives Alex and William out into the softly multicolored mountainsides around Blowing Rock.

The virtue of the film is that it focuses so simply and wholeheartedly on its actors and their characters. There is no quirky Jim Jarmusch wit in the taxicab scenes, never any loss of focus on the confused urgency of Solo's and William's divergent quests. The conclusion may leave you feeling lost in uncertainty amid the fog and whirling winds of Blowing Rock. There's nothing particularly neat or tidy about this ending. But the whole movie is worth the long look William and Solo give each other before they part for the last time. This moment more than the rest of the movie conveys a sense of Bahrani's attention and curiosity--which come with a healthy awareness that he hasn't got the answers, but he has got a grip on some of the big questions by now. Though he gives us only a piece of the puzzle, his interest in new immigrants is admirably free of indie cuteness or dramatic flourishes, and the whole movie is edited with a sure and classic touch that makes this feel like the second great American movie of the year about real people, after James Gray's 'Two Lovers.'

The American Dream vs. the American Nightmare

[rooprect · 9/10 · 6 November 2014]

Two men are in a taxicab. The passenger is a scowling, angry, misanthropic old man. The cabbie is a smiling, exuberant African immigrant. In a few lines of dialogue we learn that the misanthrope wants to be taken to Blowing Rock, North Carolina on the 20th of the month. "Why?" jokes the cabbie, "You gonna jump off?" No reply. The cabbie's glowing smile disappears.

The poetry of that opening scene is only rivaled by its ability to set a powerful air of suspense that carries through the entire 91-minute film all the way until the last minute. And even though there aren't any flashy car chases, shootouts, steamy sex scenes or fantastical plot twists, "Goodbye Solo" grabs your full attention from start to finish.

The theme, beautifully set in the opening scene & fleshed out as the story progresses, centers around the duality of the American dream and the American nightmare. The cabbie, relatively new to the USA, loves life and the endless opportunities life presents. He has a job and a family, neither of which are perfect, but they make him happy nonetheless. And he genuinely loves people. The old man is bitter, alone, presumably due to a tragic family meltdown, and he just wants to be left alone. Just as the cabbie is exploring new opportunities, the old man spends his days tying up loose ends: selling his home, closing out his bank accounts, etc. Over the course of 2 weeks or so, we witness the interaction--the philosophical struggle--between these two men, and the suspense of the outcome is maintained until the film's final scene.

The acting is absolutely 1st class with both men, particularly by the main character "Solo" played by Souléymane Sy Savane in his feature debut. His way of portraying raw optimism and hope is truly worthy of the description Roger Ebert used: "a force of nature". At the same time, it's not over-the-top unbelievable like Pollyanna or some children's fantasy character. He plays an intelligent man fully aware of the struggles in life, yet he has faith in his own determination. And isn't that the key to happiness for all of us? The old man character is the antithesis and equally believable. If you've ever suffered a horrible tragedy you know that sometimes nothing can cut through. Nothing. And that's what we see here: a man so resolute in his cynicism that you'd give up on him in 10 seconds.

And so, we see the cinematic version of the age-old physics puzzle: what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

The movie takes a quiet, measured pace with plenty of room to breathe. There are gorgeous shots of nature as well as equally haunting views of an empty downtown Winston-Salem at night. Funny, I've driven through that city scores of times on I-95 without giving it a second thought. But next time I think I'll take a small detour and visit. I also need to see this place called Blowing Rock to find out if it's real. The view from up there looks like something Count Dracula would see looking out over the misty mountains of Transylvania.

There aren't many popular films to compare this to, but I'd say if you liked the British film "Happy Go-Lucky" or the indie film "This Is Martin Bonner" or the Japanese "Shiki-Jitsu" (Ritual) or even Kurosawa's cinematic masterpiece "Ikiru" (To Live), then don't hesitate to see "Goodbye Solo".

The essence of compassion, given freely with an open heart

[howard.schumann · 9/10 · 15 June 2009]

Some people are so attached to their story that they manage to continually sabotage their aliveness and their capacity for love. Even when someone reaches out to them and challenges the skewed way in which they have constructed their world, they effectively shut them out. Ramin Bahrani's third feature, Goodbye Solo, is about William, a man clinging to his victimization act so tightly that he turns away from the only person who cares, a high-energy cab driver from Senegal who is willing to go the extra mile to tear down the wall that separates William from his fellow human beings.

Similar in narrative to Abbas Kiarostami's masterpiece A Taste of Cherry, Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) a Senegalese immigrant living in Winston Salem, North Carolina (where the director grew up) picks up a 72-year-old Caucasian passenger named William, played by Red West, a former Marine, stuntman, boxer, and bodyguard for Elvis Presley, who Solo refers to as "Big Dog". We learn next to nothing about the cantankerous old man. He refuses to engage the gregarious Solo in conversation except to offer him $1000 to drive him to Blowing Rock, a windy mountainous area, in two weeks with the depressing implication that it will be the end of the road for him, both literally and figuratively.

Similar in theme to Mike Leigh's Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky, Solo does not back off from his selfless display of good humor even when confronted by William's cold rejection. He maintains his optimism when studying for an exam to become a flight attendant. Solo knows where to find drugs or a sexual partner but there is no hint that he ever partakes. Eventually some of his positive attitude begins to break down barriers. William helps Solo in his studying, and allows him to move into his motel room when he runs into marital difficulties with his pregnant Mexican wife (Carmen Leyva). They go out drinking together, Solo introduces him to his stepdaughter Alex (Diana Franco Galindo), does his laundry for him, checks his medicine stash to see if he has some hidden terminal illness, and even searches the motel room to try and find a picture of a relative he could contact.

Gradually the two men appear to draw closer, at times showing moments of connection, and then falling back into uncertainty and rejection. Solo still searches for the clue that can prevent the inevitable, even going so far as to find out why William continually attends a local movie theater and engages in conversation with the young cashier at the box office. Bahrani's Solo is not a stereotype of the cool hip black man out to rescue the forlorn white man from himself. Solo is a multi-faceted human being with his own set of problems who is always depicted with respect. The finale, shot in the beautiful North Carolina Mountains in October, captures the stirring symphony of autumn color, and the long look that William and Solo give each other before they part is the essence of compassion, given freely with an open heart - even to the point when no payback is achieved or expected.

Tense and Beautiful

[JohnDeSando · 24 May 2009]

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror." Oscar Wilde

The two improbable "travelers" in Patrice Leconte's Man on the Train seem like old men at a nursing home compared to the dynamic layers of regret and hope between Senegalese cab driver Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) and grizzled old man William (Red West)in Goodbye Solo. Solo takes him on several rides in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, culminating in a life-changing one in the Smokey Mountains.

This tense little drama of ordinary people has a distant relationship to Beckett and Pinter, whose dramas introduce unknown forces and people who change things, even if those elements don't appear. Iranian director/writer Ramin Bahrani, along with co-writer Bahareh Azimi, has neatly shown the quotidian events of Solo's life, from the joys of a loving step-daughter and new son to strain of trying to become a flight attendant. Upon the entrance of the troubled William into his life, Solo deals with his urge to help William overcome depression and disappointment and Solo's own existential uncertainties.

Goodbye SOlo has large ambitions about showing the need to understand the end of life for the desperately disappointed and the beginning of a happy life for the positive, optimistic newcomers in the great melting pot. Solo remains hopeful in both arenas despite the forces allied against him, finding strength in his alliance with William just as characters in Beckett and Pinter find theirs.

The coda is as impressive as any other this year: the top of one of the North Carolina hills is circumscribed by an eccentric wind that seems to blow up and back at the same time, figuratively signaling the end and beginning. Solo and step-daughter Alex take comfort in the danger of the wind and precipice adjoining the safety of each other.

The message is clear—life goes on, sometimes dangerously, sometimes beautifully.

Off the Meter

[fnorful · 8/10 · 22 May 2009]

I saw this in the "Someone to Watch" and "American Independents" sidebars at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival.

Ramin Bahrani's work improves dramatically with this story of a Senegalese cab driver trying to make a life in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The story arc of his relationship with William, a fare who contracts for a one-way ride a couple of weeks in the future is well-drawn and quite satisfying. All of the prime relationships in this story are deftly developed: Solo's quest to "save" William (from what is clearly a suicide trip), Solo's efforts at providing for his second family (with concomitant tension from Wife #2), the effect of step-daughter (?) Alex on William, William's mystery relationship to the young man selling tickets at the local multi-plex.

The film was excellent technically. Bahrani likes "dark", yet the framing and focus provide for a nice intimacy with the characters. The "money" scene at the end (not giving away the plot here!) is beautifully framed, raw, elemental, vertigo-inducing without looking down.

Having not liked Man Push Cart (his first film) I feel that with this movie I have found a middle ground with Bahrani: I cared about the characters and I was told a story. But Bahrani likes mystery. And here there is a lot of mystery, very satisfying mystery. Worth seeing twice (which I did!).

A magical ride

[jsmith1480 · 9/10 · 27 March 2009]

Souleyman Savane is a natural. His taxi driver character is the focus of the film and in spite of Savane's complete lack of acting experience he carries the movie with his beautiful, expressive face and the warmth, goodness and simple joie de vivre of his character's nature and, one suspects, Mr. Savane's.

The scenes of unexceptional small city life match up right for this story and the scenes toward the end in the Great Smokies are almost as transcendent as they are in person.

At 90 minutes it is the perfect length for a movie whose central predicament is made plain from the start and it's resolution never really in doubt. An understandable determination to die by one man inspires renewal in another.

Solo Must-See!!

[john-zeigler · 10/10 · 2 December 2008]

I saw CHOP SHOP at the film forum and loved it, so when a friend told me to go see GOODBYE SOLO, I took the recommendation. SOLO was different from what I expected. It was a lot funnier than CHOP SHOP. I laughed so hard, especially in the beginning. Toward the end, things start to get a lot more emotional. It's a life-affirming film with such a subtly of power that it's haunting. Once the film was over and everything sunk in, it stayed with me, even after leaving the theater and into the night. This is proof enough that Ramin Bahrani has made something original and vital. Like in CHOP SHOP, you can feel the soul of these characters. I can't wait to see what he will be working on next. I hope these actors go up for huge awards or make great careers for themselves, and I hope that Bahrani keeps making movies as good and as sublime as this one.

must see

[jimifilm · 9/10 · 23 October 2008]

I was trying all week to get these tickets for GOODBYE SOLO at the London Film Fest because I've seen both the directors previous works which had also played there- Man Push Cart and Chop Shop. As soon as the film began i became mesmerized by the seamless blend of the story and photography. Solo is a good natured cabbie from senegal, trying to balance happiness for himself as well as the responsibilities he has for his wife and daughter alex. As Solo develops a relationship with an old man, William - it hits him, he realizes this old man is going to jump off a mountain and he must save him- and his day to day responsibilities shift dramatically, creating a new world for Solo. He even brings in Alex to help him- the three make a new, simply warm friendship. I really felt for Solo and his desire to save the old man who wouldn't bend from his own path. the evolution of their relationship to the very end- made this a truly captivating and real experience you just don't get from the theaters nowadays. not only i really wanted to know what would happen next, but the first half was really funny. i mean, people were laughing out loud, which is different from ramin bahrani's other films. i absolutely recommend this film because it digs deep into you and doesn't let go for days after. I was also lucky enough that the director and the actor (whose name is also Solo) were there and i was able to personally congratulate them on their creation. that guy solo is really good. everyone was commenting on him. check this out if you get a chance.

My compassion muscle was exercised

[jeff_ginsburg · 9/10 · 16 April 2009]

Solo was a relentlessly optimistic character, regardless of the setback, he rebounded immediately. Or, he brought himself back to a sunny state by a deep and touching effort that was illuminated with care and beauty. The older man, William, on the otherhand, worked hard to maintain his life-has-beaten-me-down disposition. So when a happy/touching moment overtakes him, the director shares the ray of hope, the precious glimmer of being touched despite himself. So the film is filled with these gems welling from opposite natures pushing against each other. The buds of nature push forth despite the obstacles. Solo was the everchanging sunshine in this film.

The pacing was not rushed and only 1 or 2x did I find myself saying "I got it, move on". The acting was genuine and I was amazed how everday, duldrum existence was portrayed with compassion among people who have little possessions, yet no glories imposed, no moments of drama asking for viewer's awe (i.e. Streepless).

The cinematography was expertly crafted: people were positioned that complimented and complemented the background scene. The bleakness of the tobacco-industry sooted parts of town was not beautified, rather its interest captivated me in showing its richness in layers of aging infrastructure moaning as a tired, old beast. Again, I was consistently sated when I looked at the mis-en-scene.

This film is a big reward for seeking out independent, small-budget films---something I seldom have with any film.

Best Film at SXSW!!

[maggiepennington362 · 9/10 · 22 March 2009]

I admit, I was very worried when I saw the trailer for this film that Bahrani had sold out or made his first bad film. I was worried this was going to be something awful like The Legend of Bagger Vance or The Bucket List. Something cheesy, sentimental, or with an angel black man who saves a white man. Thank God none of that was true! The film is sooooooo GOOD! I loved Bahrani's first two films and wish more people had seen them. But this is his best film yet and I am glad it has a wider release! The characters are real, honest, sincere and once again Bahrani manages to avoid all the normal plot devices that ruin films. Compared to Man Push Cart and Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo has a much stronger story-line and is really tense. You always want to know what happens next, but especially the last 30minutes the audience I saw it here at SXSW were rivited. AND-- it is funny! The first half of the film is really funny and I didn't expect that at all! A lot of that is the writing and directing, but a lot is the acting. That guy playing Solo is so charming he has star written all over him. His warmth and personality make the film something really special, especially next to the old man playing William. He is just perfect in the role, as if it was written for him. The movie left me feeling a little sad, but also really strong and hopeful, which sounds weird, but it's true. Its been days since I saw the film, and I saw many others at the festival, some good ones too, but this is the one that stayed with me. It is the best film I have seen all year and I will see it again when it opens in Austin.

Best film I saw at Toronto Film Festival

[rb545rd · 10/10 · 21 September 2008]

Without a doubt this was the best film I saw at the Toronto Film Festival. My girlfriend and I decided to make a trip up there for a few days to see some films, enjoy the city and catch Niagara Falls. We saw some good films, and some not-so-good films, but most of them were good... but none of them captivated us like Goodbye Solo. It was on our short list because we had seen and really liked Chop Shop-- by the same director. This one is even better. The lead actor is just amazing!! This guy is going to win some awards. He is so charming that you can't help but want to watch everything he does. The whole audience was laughing for like the first half of the film because him and the old man - the big dawg! - are just so funny together and the things they say and do together are just great... but it was the ending that really got us. My girlfriend was crying. So were a lot of people around us... And the last shots are really beautiful. I don't know where they filmed it, but the location was amazing. The mountain and the trees and fog... it was just amazing how the filmed those colors and fog, like it wasn't real or something. The film really, really moved us and stayed with us for the rest of our trip and we talked about it a lot on our drive home. Solo changed so much in the film... that guy is a great actor. We will see it again when it comes out for sure.

compelling Solo performance

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 6 July 2016]

Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is a cabbie in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He's from Senegal sending money home for his extended family. William (Red West) hires him to drive one way up the local mountain Blowing Rock where wind causes updraft. He's tired, bitter, and sold everything including his apartment except for a couple of suitcases. Solo is talkative and unrelentingly positive. The two men slowly find connections.

Souleymane Sy Savane gives an unrelenting performance. There is a sense of a changing South. The one thing I don't understand is why the two guys spend so much time together. Even William asks why he keeps getting Solo as his cabbie. It would make more sense for a movie over one night. It would create more intensity.

It's the only place in the world where the snow blows upside down.

[lastliberal · 8/10 · 6 October 2009]

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is a Senagalese cabbie with a pretty good outlook on life. He seems to be always smiling. He meets William (Red West), who wants a ride 10 days from now to the top of a mountain to a place called Blowing Rock. He doesn't plan to return.

Solo takes it upon himself to save this man, and William is just as determined to ignore him and proceed with his mission.

There are no cute lines. The film is real. It is about how real humans interact and it takes place in a real place. You are captivated watching the dance between the two over the 10 days.

At the time all this is playing out, Solo is dealing with troubles on the home front, and working to get accepted into flight attendant school.

You'll have to interpret the ending for yourself.

Ramin Bahrani follows up his two previous greats (Chop Shop, Man Push Cart) with another winner.

Goodbye Soslooooooooooow

[jordan2240 · 5/10 · 10 January 2010]

I'm afraid I'm with the group who found this to be terribly boring. Perhaps I'm just too stupid for this sort of film-making, as I just don't get it. Character studies are one thing, but is it too much to ask that someone actually do something interesting. Drawn-out facial closeups do not an interesting movie make. After suffering through the first half-hour/forty minutes, someone actually showed some emotion in a scene I can't even remember now, and I thought I was about to see why this movie garnered such lush praise - but I was wrong. Right back to nothing happening. I don't need everything to be wrapped in a neat little package, but it would have been nice to know at least a tiny bit of what motivated the characters to act as they did. Because of this film, my girlfriend will no longer trust my movie selections. I'm lucky I'm not going "Solo".

Cinema Gold

[HamidK · 10/10 · 23 October 2008]

I watched this film at the London Film Festival, where the filmmaker has become a regular feature in recent years with his first two films 'Man Push Cart' and 'Chop Shop'.

His third outing is his strongest work yet. The film communicates profound feelings and ideas through achingly powerful characterisation, finely nuanced storytelling and poetic visuals. I don't know how Bahrani achieved such brilliant performances from the cast, but Souleyman Sy Savane, Red West and Diana Franco Galindo all did something really special in this film.

I will carefully touch upon the matter of the end of the film (avoiding spoilers).

Bahrani has eschewed the manipulative beast that is 'the resolution' in his past films, in the name of truthfulness and integrity. As inspired as I have been by such choices, I said to myself two thirds into 'Goodbye Solo', "this time, there has to be a resolution, right?"

But what the filmmaker has done with the last ten minutes or so of the film is what I could only describe to my wife in the screening as discovering 'Cinema Gold'.

The film navigates those of us who are willing to engage with the characters to a spiritual final stretch, where the viewer is no longer a passive participant, but thinking and feeling for the characters and about our own lives and those we love dearly.

I could hardly breathe over the stirring guitar score over the end credits. I honestly can't remember when that last happened. Maybe it was 'Magnolia' or '21 Grams'.

It's a perfect ending to a really powerful, moving piece of cinema - that must be seen again and again.

'Goodbye Solo' is a truly engaging and emotional experience. The film furthers the great tradition of humanist cinema that masters such as Satyajit Ray, Ken Loach and Abbas Kiarostami have become legends pioneering. It is so hopeful that cinema-lovers of my generation can begin to look at Ramin Bahrani as a filmmaker with a talent and depth that exudes respect for the medium and towards those who love it.

Find out where this film is showing and go and watch it, regardless of the 'kind of film' you think you like to see. From the first scene, you will feel welcomed, engaged, amused, challenged and moved.

You will leave the screening when it's finished, but the film might not leave you for a long time.

Up In the Air

[ThurstonHunger · 9/10 · 17 October 2009]

Character driven piece where either casting or the acting is just outstanding. And possibly both. I still think about this and wonder if the screen play was written up having met the two principal men.

The story is about two guys who want to get up in the air, one who seems to ride on the winds of optimism, the other perhaps feeling gravity more than most. Hand-held low-cost vibe, but the story I found at the forefront (perhaps emblematic of Iranian film) and the ending without clear resolution is surely a fine Iranian trait.

But so many interactions are fantastic, from the taxi cab driver to the dispatch operator, to that same taxi cab driver to his step-daughter, and then the strange kindness of a stranger and his passenger. Feels like a modern myth at times (is Charon the great grandfather of all cabbies), and yet it also has a cinema verite vibe. Quite a combo...quite a film.

Do not miss.

9/10 -Thurston Hunger

Amazing!!!

[craig-windum · 10/10 · 22 March 2009]

Absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I had seen the preview, and thought "oh my, this is going to be a tacky indie flick." My wife (yes, I love her dearly) dragged me in to see it at SXSW (like she does so often), and I really wanted to not watch it. But from the very first minute, I was utterly captivated. I can't believe how good a small film like this can be!!! I almost cried in the end, and I felt so full of life. It's a powerful film, and I want to see everything this director has made now. The little girl did such a great job – I hope she becomes a famous actress because she deserves it. The main character was also really good, and his accent was so well acted (I even wonder if it was real?) I can't say there was a better film at SXSW this year – or any year! I've gone many times before, and this one was just shocking. I'm tempted to drive to wherever it's playing (I hear it's getting a limited release in theaters) just to see it again before it comes out on DVD. You must see this film! This director will make it big!

best character I have seen in a long time

[chandlerbing28 · 10/10 · 3 May 2009]

This movie made me wish there were an Oscar or other award for "Best Character." My friends and I were very impressed with Solo--who was a seamless blend of great writing and amazing acting.

This man can act with his eyes.

I wished I could be the character's friend so that he could experience the love that he gives to others. You won't be able to get him out of your mind.

It was really nice to see a character-driven movie that did not feel like a movie because nothing was artificially pumped up or heightened. The true story occurred during the random ordinary moments of life.

Boring

[gizmoray · 2/10 · 10 July 2013]

Maybe I missed something in the movie (don't think so) but I found the film very slow moving and consisting of nothing but watching the title characters sleeping, smoking cigarettes and driving a cab and having their daily squabbles. My lady friend and I thought there was too little to justify 90 minutes of inaction for. The scenery at the end of the movie was the best feature. I think people who pay good money for watching this picture are wasting their time and deluding themselves they are seeing a hidden gem. I felt there was little reason to sympathize with the old man He made his bed and he was going to die in it. Solo felt an attachment to him only because of a sense of a borderline vicarious adventure but there was no way he could prevent the predetermined outcome nor do I feel he really wanted to.

one of the best performances in one of the best films of recent times

[Buddy-51 · 9/10 · 29 March 2010]

Set in the refreshingly unfamiliar locale of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, "Goodbye Solo" is a perfectly realized human drama that, without question, ranks among the finest films of recent years.

Solo (short for Souleymane) is a cab driver from Senegal who becomes buddies of sorts with one of his regular fares - a cantankerous older gentleman by the name of William, who apparently has no family or close friends and whom Solo begins to suspect might in fact be contemplating suicide. Now Solo must decide how deeply to insinuate himself into the life of a man who obviously cherishes his privacy and who keeps all his emotions and thoughts buried deep beneath the surface of a taciturn, sometimes even resentful, exterior.

Without resorting to hyperbole, I can safely say that not only does Souleymane Sy Savane deliver the most astonishingly compelling performance I've seen in ages, but, in Solo, he has created one of the most fully actualized characters in recent memory as well. We literally can't take our eyes off Savane as he brings to extraordinary life this gregarious, highly energetic and shrewdly observant individual who's been blessed with a seemingly infinite capacity for optimism, for seeing the good in other people, and for caring about his fellow man. And it is the openhearted frankness, the complete lack of guile that Savane brings to the role that turns Solo into such a believable, fully-rounded and unforgettable character. Solo may be stuck in a nowhere job at the moment, but his innate intelligence, personal drive and infectious way with people ensure he will not be there long. Even the camera can't seem to resist Savane as it edges ever closer to his face as the movie races towards its artful, poetic and bittersweet conclusion.

As the moody and enigmatic William, Red West provides just the right note of internalized understatement to serve as an effective counterpoint to the life-affirming and extroverted qualities that flow so naturally from Solo.

Written and directed with unerring artistry and truth by Ramin Bahrani (Bahareh Azimi served as co-writer), "Goodbye Solo" is not only a genuinely great film in its own right, but in Souleymane Sy Savane, it contains a performance that truly is one for the ages. Don't miss it.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

[asc85 · 3/10 · 10 September 2009]

I just don't understand all the adulation that this film has received. I can "get" most arty films, and I thought "Chop Shop," which was the previous film from this director was OK, but this film was a total bore, with no purpose, and characters that weren't at all interesting.

As I compose this note, I'm the first person in the Comments section to say how much I disliked this movie. But at least on the IMDb message boards for this movie, I've already found a few who had the same reaction I did. So I guess there's some hope in this world. Dare I say that "Goodbye Solo" will be among the worst films that I will see in 2009.

Lightning Did Strike Thrice For Bahrani

[druid333-2 · 10/10 · 3 August 2009]

This is the fourth feature film by North Carolina born film maker (but of Persian descent),Ramin Bahrani, and I'm overjoyed to announce,this film is every bit as good as the first two I've seen by him ('Man Push Cart',from 2005,and 'Chop Shop',from 2007). Bahrani has the gift of telling the emigrant experience from the emigrant's perspective. The story:a taxi cab driver,simply called Solo (played by a likable Souleyman Sy Savane)gets a fare in his cab one night,who wants him to drive him a long distance for reasons unsaid. William (the fare,played by one time Elvis Presley bodyguard,Red West)is an embittered,burnt out shell of a man who just wants to be left alone. He seems to be content being dropped off at the same cinema,night after night to stare at the young man at the ticket window (for reasons that are never entirely revealed). Solo agrees to take William to this high mountain peak,but balks at the idea that William may just want to jump off the mountain. The bulk of this film finds Solo trying to intervene in Williams life (much to the chagrin of William,himself),and trying to somehow bond a friendship with a man who has been beaten by life one too many times. A subplot involving Solo's step daughter,Alex (played by Diana Franco Galindo)dovetails nicely among the (potential) despair of William's lack of zeal in life. I eagerly await anything new by Bahrani down the pipeline (although I've heard that he has directed a couple of short films prior to 'Man Push Cart'). Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains pervasive raunchy language & smoking.

A subtle and meditative look at sadness, alienation, and what connects us as human beings...

[TheFilmBloggerdotcom · 7/10 · 11 October 2009]

Within two minutes of the start of Ramin Bahrani's new film Goodbye Solo, the titular character, Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané), a Senegalese cabbie living in North Carolina, asks his fed up and begrudged-to-be-alive customer, William (Red West), "You're not gonna jump, right?", and up until the film's close, this becomes a question that hounds Solo and the viewer equally. An exceptional drama that finally opened in the U.K. on a limited run this week, Goodbye Solo is a subtle and meditative look at sadness, alienation, and what connects us as human beings.

The setup is simple; Bahrani throws the viewer straight into the first meeting between Solo and William inside a cab, with William offering to pay Solo $1000 for a $200 fare to Blowing Rock if he agrees in advance to do it. Suspicious that William is going to throw himself from Blowing Rock, Solo cannot tear himself away despite William being cantankerous and closed-up, and decides to try and convince him not to end his life.

On the other hand, Solo is a rather charming and likable fellow, who is working towards becoming an airline assistant in order to adequately provide for his pregnant wife (Carmen Leyva) and her daughter, Alex (Diana Franco Galindo). Entirely converse to William, he is affable, open, and hopeful; thus he is the perfect vessel through which this mystery story unravels, for he is sympathetic and takes the journey with us to see what William is going to do at Blowing Rock.

What I admire most about Goodbye Solo is just how genuine it is; we get the inkling early on that Solo is a truly caring and optimistic young man, and so his concern towards William doesn't feel forced or overly contrived. His outlook is also interesting as juxtaposed with William's defeatist attitude; the film remarks cultural differences, such as how in America, families do not look after their old, and Solo compares this with how he will be cared for in Senegal when he is William's age. By proxy, the viewer of course associates this with their starkly opposed outlooks on life, and while the film refuses to be judgemental, it causes one to consider whether William's bitterness is a cause or a by-product of his loneliness. Solo's life is far from perfect either, though; his wife doesn't appreciate his efforts to make a life for them, suggesting that perhaps Solo is just a few years away from the decades of loneliness that William has endured.

Through and through, it is the emotional plausibility that makes this film so compelling; it staunchly refuses to succumb to melodrama. Little gestures like William graciously accepting a beer from Solo exhibit Bahrani's nuanced hand for human interactions, and in not making William an entirely lost cause, he also doesn't set himself a task too difficult, or risk contrivance. It's other little nuances also, such as William's ability to help Solo prepare for his airline test, which impressively does away with stereotypes and also provides small hints about these characters; despite his Southern accent and the implication that he's a no-nonsense, impatient old man, there are these small glimpses that tell the attentive viewer so much.

Agonisingly drip-feeding the viewer morsels of information about the central mystery works best in films that are short; in that stead, the conceit doesn't becoming too tiring or repetitive, and Goodbye Solo, at 91 minutes, perfectly understands this concept. In many ways it's frustrating that it takes so long to find out anything about William (and by the end we still don't know that much), but that's a testament to the living colour of Bahrani's characters, that they are compelling enough for us to want to know more.

Knowing full well that this scenario is likely headed for a rather uneasy climax, intrigue transfers over to Solo in the latter portion of the film, as we become immersed in his life, and wonder how he will stop this joyless man from taking his own life, while juggling a new child and a broken marriage. Few will expect the film to be tense, but enormous suspense is wrung out from the fact that Bahrani has written the film to such a point that either conclusion – William killing himself or in fact having other intentions – would be emotionally satisfying and plausible, and so the climactic ride to Blowing Rock, although quiet and minimalist, leaves the viewer to stew in the insecurity of their own making.

The key on which the film ends is going to probably frustrate as many viewers as it satisfies, and while many will class it as a "non-ending", it is an end emphatic of so much more than a simple question of "did he, didn't he?". These notions of uncertainty, of the abyss, are in tone with the authentic existential themes present throughout.

sometimes simple is more, deeper, about life and what makes it worth living

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 24 October 2009]

Ramin Bahrani is a real gem in today's world of American film-making. How often do we get someone who understands that issues in America can be dealt with by just focusing very simply on people, how they really interact with one another. A friend of mine, after finishing watching Goodbye Solo with me, commented "This is like Driving Miss Daisy... only *good*", and I understood his point. Another director might have approached the uneasy friendship between William and Solo with melodrama, stereotypes. There's none of that for Bahrani: for him his two characters are people who feel and think and may hide or reveal a little much of both, but at the leas they're people we can possibly identify with even if they seem to be from another part of the country (or out of the country) or social strata altogether.

In this case with Goodbye Solo Bahrani also stretches out from his first two features, which were both wonderful attempts at neo-realism. It's a story of friendship, one that comes out from two mismatched people. One, Solo (Soleymane Sy Savane) is a cab driver in North Carolina, and the other, William (Red West) is a passenger who, one night, asks for the cab driver to take him in a week or so up to a specific spot - a cliff on a mountainside. It's never said, and it doesn't ever need to be, but it's insinuated more than enough what William's intentions are on top of the cliff, which is, basically, not to come back. But it's from this that Solo, a naturally friendly and talkative person, tries to bond with William during these days leading up to this date of October 20th, where we get to know Solo as a good guy just trying to move up from cab driver to pilot, and William is... a little more vague.

What makes the movie is not just the writing, though there's the tense and beautiful complexities drawn in how one character will speak and the other will not, or the direction, which shows Bahrani's control of mis-en-scene at a master's level of serenity and a sense of perfectly how long to hold a shot. It's the actors, who are put together as people who couldn't be farther apart in where they come from as people (Souleymane is a guy who has just started acting without much prior experience, and Red West was once a bodyguard for Elvis) and their own sense of the material comes through as naturally as one could ask for. There's nothing too sweet about how the actors play off one another, or how West just listens and just barely reacts with his eyes to the energetic Souleyame, and it's this that makes it so precisely an emotional journey for the characters.

It's a story about the good in people, whether they acknowledge it or not, and how they can relate to each other and attempt to connect. By the end we see something of a bittersweet resolution that is just about right, and the "Goodbye" of the title is done without a word, but with so much heart put into it that you can't believe neither character/actor doesn't break down into tears. That it's also at times an amusing film, with some notes of great warmth and humor coming out of unpretentious reactions, is an added bonus and a sign of Bahrani's growth as a filmmaker. It's one of the best finds in the independent film section this year, or any year.

Intriguing storyline that runs out of gas at the finish

[Turfseer · 4/10 · 3 February 2010]

Set in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 'Goodbye Solo' is about a happy-go-lucky taxicab driver from Senegal who one night picks up a passenger who offers him $1,000 to drive to a secluded site in a state park on a date about two weeks in the future. The driver ends up inviting the man to briefly stay over at his house, where his pregnant wife and stepdaughter are living. In the real world, I can't imagine any dutiful husband, allowing a total stranger into his house, as the new found guest could easily turn out to be some kind of criminal who might do harm to the family.

Once you're willing to suspend your disbelief over the cab driver's willingness to trust a passenger he knows virtually nothing about, 'Goodbye Solo' draws you in as it chronicles the relationship between the cab driver and the enigmatic passenger. The passenger is played by a great character actor, Red West. In real life, he was part of the 'Memphis Mafia', working as a bodyguard for Elvis Presley for many years and later collaborating on a tell-all biography. West is about 74 years old now and has great, tough-guy, weather beaten looks along with a deep, menacing voice.

The plot follows the driver Solo (breezily played by Souleymane Sy Savane) as he attempts to befriend the belligerent William. Before the climactic trip to William's final destination, Solo drives William to the same movie theater on a number of occasions; there, Solo notices William taking an interest in a young man behind the ticket counter. When Solo asks William if the young man is his son or someone related, William angrily lashes out, stating that it's none of his business. The angry mantra is repeated ad infinitum but Solo cannot take the hint. Finally, after prying one too many times, William slugs Solo in the face and tells him he doesn't ever want to see him again. Through his persistence, Solo manages to force a reconciliation and convinces William to allow him to bring his stepdaughter with him as he drives William to his fateful, final destination.

There are moments when Solo appears to be making headway in breaking down William's resistance to softening up. William appears to take a liking to the stepdaughter (at least that's what he indicates in a notebook which Solo gets his hands on and briefly flips through) and seems to enjoy playing pool with Solo. But William's 'senstive' side is rarely on display. It's obvious at the end of the movie that William wants to end his life but we never find out why. The film's scenarist has been teasing us as to William's motivations and only provides scant clues (such as an entry in the notebook that the young man at the movie theater is his son).

The problem with 'Goodbye Solo' is that there's no payoff. William disappears (presumably having jumped off a mountain) and we know about as much about him as we did when we first met him. The sub-plots (Solo's attempt to become a flight attendant and his estrangement and eventual reconciliation with his wife) are mere distractions. The central mystery, who is William and why is he trying to kill himself, is never answered.

Today, there are too many films where screenwriters don't know how come up with a satisfactory ending. For all its good intentions, Goodbye Solo fits into this category. Despite the intriguing storyline and excellent performances, Solo runs out of gas right at the finish line. _