Goodbye Solo

“Goodbye Solo” deals with real social problems and is so carefully crafted, that I didn’t really begin questioning it until a couple days afterward.

Solo is a Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  He has a Latina, pregnant wife (Quiera), a stepdaughter (Alex), and he is struggling to become a flight attendant.  Struggling.  William is also struggling–an “Original Player” as Solo calls him, an aging biker-type filled with remorse about the son that he never met.  William’s son works at a cinema that William frequents just to see him, but cannot dare to tell him who he is.

I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone, so I’ll leave it at that.  This movie is so wonderful, spiritual, and sad at the same time that I was deeply pleased.  The audience is left with questions at the end, but I promise, only questions that are troubling to answer.

The actor that plays Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is largely unknown, having been in one other film that is under most radars, called “The Day of My Wedding.”  But it looks like his career is taking off from here with two more movies in the works.  He is delightful.  The actor, Red West (William), has been in films since the late 1950’s.

Notably, Roger Ebert gave praise to writer/director Ramin Bahrani, saying the film “establishes him as a major American director.” The film was co-written with Bahareh Azimi.  The direction in this movie was indeed, fantastic.  It received the FIPRESCI award at the Venice film festival (2008).  That’s the one given by the journalists and critics, so it looks like I’m siding with everyone else on this one.  “Goodbye Solo” is out on video. My favorite movie in a long time.