Goodbye Solo

Goodbye Solo

Director:

Ramin Bahrani

Writers:

Bahareh Azimi
Ramin Bahrani

Starring:

Souleymane Sy Savane
Red West
Diana Franco Galindo
Lane Williams
Mamadou Lam
Carmen Leyva

Rating:

No rating

Quotes:

Ten people can sleep in here.
I want you to get your things, leave, and don't comeback.
Do you ask all your passengers why they want to go places?

Every once in awhile a small independent movie comes along that can take you into it's heart. Watching "Goodbye Solo" I felt as much as, if not more than the movies title character does. Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is a Senegalese cab driver on the streets of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as the movie opens he is driving an older man, William (Red West) to a movie theatre, William asks Solo if he is willing to drive him to Blowing Rock in ten days, Solo is kinda confused why William would want a ride there but not one back. Solo asks William if he is planning to jump off the rock, William doesn't answer. Solo drops William off at the show and drives away, going home Solo has problems of his own, his wife Navani (Navani Reyes) is pregnant and the baby is due any day now, his step daughter Alex (Diana Franco Galindo) just wants a cell phone. Solo has a dream of working as an airline steward, he has been trying to study for an exam but can't seem to find the time. When Solo picks William up the next night, he tries to return the advance towards the drive now nine days away. William won't take it and says if Solo won't do it he will find another driver who will. Solo replies that won't be necessary, that he will drive William. That night when William is dropped off at the movies, he has two suitcases with him, he tells Solo that he sold his house, and wants to get into a motel before the nights over. Solo tells William that he has to make a couple stops, but then they will find a motel for William. William picks up another rider, someone he has been driving around for awhile, at one stop several gang bangers chase the cab and throw beer bottles at it. William and Solo go to a bar and they both seem to have a good time. Being unable to get a motel room Solo takes William to his house, the next morning Navani doesn't seem happy to find William there. Taking William to a motel solo will find himself needing to crash there, Navani has found the test booklet that Solo has been trying to hide from her. Throwing Solo out, he makes use of his friendship with William. Spending his days with William, Solo tries to understand what is going on, one day after playing soccer Solo and a friend drop William at a bank so he can close out his account, Solo goes back to pick up his taxi and is given a coat that belongs to William, there is a picture in one of the pockets, it is of a young boy, the same boy that works at the movie theater. That night when Solo gets back to the motel, William is asleep when Solo wakes him up to talk, William is upset that Solo has gotten involved in his business, getting up he hits Solo in the face and tells him that he must get out. William gets another driver to agree to drive him to Blowing Rock and Solo gets into an argument with that driver, he wants to talk to William, but can't get him to do it. The day that Solo takes the test, he feels that he aced it, learning later, by letter that he failed, the first person he tries to call is William. When Solo finds out who is going to drive William to the mountain, he confronts him and finds out where William is, when Solo goes to pick William up, William isn't happy to see his driver is Solo. Solo tells him that if its his wish to go to the mountain then it will be Solo who drives him there. As the day approaches Solo realizes that he can't change William's mind and comes to accept that fact. On the morning of the fateful day, Solo picks William up, he says that he wants to take Alex along so that he will have someone to ride back with, it is a ride of a couple hours, William says he doesn't mind and they pick Alex up. When they arrive at Blowing Rock, it is early in the morning, mid morning fog snakes its way across the roads, Solo parks and everyone gets out. Alex and Solo walk a short distance with William, but Solo knowing what William wants to do, tells Alex that they should go get ice cream. The movie never shows if William does take that fateful step off the mountain, they never tell us why he wants to go there. We do find out that William isn't suffering from a disease that would kill him in time. So why does he want to go? That is left for the viewers to decide. In a country as powerful as the United States is why is it that a person of any age can be made to feel the way that William does? The way that this movie plays out will make you smile, and then it will hit you and you may shed more than a few tears.  Go see this small market movie, it is worth the time you will spend. When you walk out, you may have just seen one of the better movies of the year.

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