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| Syd |
 Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:53 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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In Goodbye Solo, Senegalese cab driver Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) is offered one thousand dollars to take his elderly client, William (Red West) on a one-way trip to Blowing Rock (a place where it is so windy that snow gets blown back into the sky). Solo becomes concerned that William may be intending to take his own life at the destination. His concern is intensified when William shows up at the curb with suitcases, tells Solo he has sold his apartment and needs to find a motel. So Solo determines to be there for William and, if possible, intervene. And of course, we have a bonding, or do we? Or is it a different sort than we expect.
This is mostly a two-person drama, but even the minor roles are well-delineated very quickly. One thing I noticed is that the film opened at a moment most writers would have put twenty or thirty minutes into the film, and proceeds from there. Writer/director Ramin Bahrani has a lot of confidence to do this, and deftly gets us to know his characters in a few seconds. The basic material may have been done before, but as Ebert says, it's not what a film is about but how it is about it, and here we see what can be done in the hands of a gifted director. Ebert's proclaimed Bahrani to be the new great American director, and, while I'm more cautious than to say that, he clearly has the ability for that. He gets fine performances from both his leads, and from Diana Franco Galindo, who plays Solo's step-daughter, and from much more minor characters, and the writing is intimate and effective without ever being overdone.
Beautifully made film, and my new best of 2009. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:18 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in the movie, but the film is mostly set in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which is why William can take a taxi to Blowing Rock. I once invented a fictional wizard named Winston Salem, who, of course, always appeared in a puff of smoke and a fit of coughing.
I was going to proclaim Goodbye Solo as obviously the best movie filmed in Winston-Salem, but Junebug is also excellent. At least part of Thank You for Smoking was, appropriately, filmed there, too.
The town of Blowing Rock is the basis of the fictional town Mitford. I have a Barnes & Noble shopping bag which reads "I'd rather be in Mitford," and apparently for a few minutes, I was (or at least close to it). |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:01 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| it's in my queue -- can't wait to see it |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in the movie, but the film is mostly set in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
It's mentioned constantly.
Syd wrote: I was going to proclaim Goodbye Solo as obviously the best movie filmed in Winston-Salem, but Junebug is also excellent.
As excellent as Junebug is, Goodbye Solo is better. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:22 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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billyweeds wrote: Syd wrote: I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in the movie, but the film is mostly set in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
It's mentioned constantly.
Syd wrote: I was going to proclaim Goodbye Solo as obviously the best movie filmed in Winston-Salem, but Junebug is also excellent.
As excellent as Junebug is, Goodbye Solo is better.
Agreed, although it's hard to compare such different films. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:03 am |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Goodbye Solo has an interesting subtext - the cultural conflict between Solo's hardscrabble Mexican wife who can't understand why her Senegalese husband has to concern himself with a stranger. She sees the family as needing every bit of his considerable energy and love, while he has no choice but to get involved with a most unsympathetic loner. His young step daughter has no problem bridging the two approaches.
Without giving anything away, I liked the inexorableness of the moving action. This is a very strong film from any way you look at it. |
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That was great for you. How was it for me? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:40 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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yambu wrote: Goodbye Solo has an interesting subtext - the cultural conflict between Solo's hardscrabble Mexican wife who can't understand why her Senegalese husband has to concern himself with a stranger. She sees the family as needing every bit of his considerable energy and love, while he has no choice but to get involved with a most unsympathetic loner. His young step daughter has no problem bridging the two approaches.
Without giving anything away, I liked the inexorableness of the moving action. This is a very strong film from any way you look at it.
Very interesting insight, yam, and I felt myself tugged from viewpoint to viewpoint throughout the movie. Part of me (my better angels) was in favor of Solo's humanistic instincts, and part of me sympathized with the wife, as in "Why the fuck are you wasting your time on this ungrateful loser?" It's a litmus test as well as a great movie. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:59 am |
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We watched Transporter last night. I had seen the second one and really liked it. I always like Statham. I'd heard that the first one was good. And it was. We both liked it, though some of the fight scenes are a bit too over-the-top. I did like Transporter II better, I meant to see III but it left town (Winnipeg) before I got around to it. It's the kind of film that will play here, but it might have already played, even though Bank Job just got here a couple of weeks ago.
We will be watching Manhattan today or tomorrow. Marta hasn't seen it. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:30 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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To my mind, one of the joys of film is intruding the great ones to some else. Even if they're not great by others' standards, sharing movies you love is a wonder.
Enjoy, Gary! |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:44 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Speaking of which, last night I watched, for probably the third time, Far From Heaven - probably not a film I'd share with anyone unless they were a real film buff - but this time, for perhaps the first time, I was swept up by the emotion of the film.
In the past, I've always admired what Todd Haynes accomplished. I loved the aesthetics of the movie. I loved his use of color, the score, the camera work and his use of angular photography to enhance certain moments to say nothing of the 50's atmosphere, the detail and his homage to Douglas Sirk. But last night I had a very new experience.
This is clearly a film that needs to be seen a few times to be really appreciated and I thought I had. What a delightful and moving surprise. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 4:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Marj........I own the film and will watch it again soon because of your comments. I'd like to watch All that Heaven Allows again soon, too.
Happy-Go-Lucky is an interesting film about a character who is not a real life character.....but one created for a movie experience.
She is madingly ditzy and irreverently giddy. I would not want to be in her company for long. Her wardrobe is beyond inventive.....her colors scream "isn't life a jolly ride!" Unfortunately she.....a 30 year old, single elementary school teacher comes into contact with people having the opposite life experience: a bookstore manager, a driving instructor, and an abused student. How she deals with these three bring out more depth to her personality and make her much more appealing. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 5:07 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Move over Julie and Julia, I've decided to get my French cooking lessons from Jeanne. That is Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. It's going to take a bit for this film to sink in. I'm glad (in a way) that I didn't realize it was over 3 hours long, as I probably would have buried it in a second-tier to-watch pile had I known.
The film is mesmerizing at times, maddening at others. Minimalist, realist, largely silent. A static camera mostly set in the rooms of one apartment captures the household chores and routine of the title character -- a suburban housewife trying to be perfect and precise in her life and behavior, despite needs. You know something is wrong when cooking and quiet desperation are the highlights of your day.
Until Criterion's recent release, this 1976 Chantal Akerman film was apparently quite difficult to get hold of. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 5:21 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| This is a documentary? |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 5:30 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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No, but except for the ending, it certainly feels like one. It's kitchen sink realism -- at times literally -- with cracks slowly emerging in the facade of her life. If that makes sense. It takes place over 3 days, with most chores and actions playing out in real time.
I've always liked Delphine Seyrig, in the few things I've seen her in, and here she is one with the part and the film. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 6:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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yambu wrote: Goodbye Solo has an interesting subtext - the cultural conflict between Solo's hardscrabble Mexican wife who can't understand why her Senegalese husband has to concern himself with a stranger. She sees the family as needing every bit of his considerable energy and love, while he has no choice but to get involved with a most unsympathetic loner. His young step daughter has no problem bridging the two approaches.
Without giving anything away, I liked the inexorableness of the moving action. This is a very strong film from any way you look at it.
Agreed. The marital interaction is as interesting as the main feature of the plot. Similar subplots enrich his Chop Shop too.
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