GOODBYE SOLO (Ramin Bahrani). 91 minutes. Opens Friday (May 29). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNN
One of those efforts that’s easy to admire but more challenging to enjoy, Goodbye Solo drives us to all the clichéd stops of the cross-cultural genre but resists the typical sentiment and light pleasures usually found there.
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Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) is a Senegalese taxi driver for whom happiness is simple even if employment and stability aren’t. William (Red West) is a reserved and mysterious 70-year-old curmudgeon who violently protects his privacy.
He books Solo two weeks in advance for a one-way ride to a cliff called Blowing Rock, a spot that could best be described as an existential vacuum. Solo is quick to catch on to the suicidal implications and dedicates the next two weeks to convincing the world-weary William to shift his destination.
Typical for this sort of chocolate-vanilla pairing, the immigrant introduces the white man to all the vibrancy of ethnic life. However, William remains unresponsive for much of the film, making it Solo’s solo show and never allowing the white man to demonstrate his true colours.
Director Ramin Bahrani puts together a smart, sombre and visually arresting allegory, one that lacks only in the chemistry between its two leads. And while that may be the point, it’s also a drag.
