Film review: Goodbye Solo

Published on Thursday 15 October 2009 18:58

GOODBYE SOLO (15) **** DIRECTED BY: RAMIN BAHRANI STARRING: SOULEYMANE SY SAVANE, RED WEST, DIANA FRANCO GALINDO

ANYONE who's caught Ramin Bahrani's previous films Man Push Cart or Chop Shop might be tempted to peg its director as the American Ken Loach, thanks to his determination to tell stories traditionally ignored by mainstream cinema. Really, though, he's working in the grand tradition of the Italian neo-realists.

With this third film, however, he really comes into his own as a filmmaker with a unique voice.

It's the story of Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane), a gregarious and upbeat taxi driver who insinuates himself into the life of ageing passenger William (Red West), whom he suspects of planning to kill himself after making a deal with him to drive to a local suicide spot a few weeks hence, no questions asked.

Far from being the relentlessly downbeat film this premise might suggest, what follows as Solo insinuates himself into William's life as a tentative friendship evolves between them is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad testament to the way encounters with strangers can have profound effects on our lives.