Goodbye Solo Film Review

1 hr 31 mins.

Starring: Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo, Carmen Layva

Directed by: Ramin Bahrani

MPAA: NR (not rated)

Rating: *** stars (out of 4 stars)

Observational Iranian filmmaker Ramin Bahrani has demonstrated a unique knack for examining the livelihood of immigrants existing on the fringe of American society. The North Carolinian Bahrani serves up another soul-searching narrative based in his home state where humanity and friendship meet fittingly in the moving and motivating drama Goodbye Solo. Tender yet absorbingly raw, Bahrani's third feature film Goodbye Solo is an emotional lullaby about lost diverse souls trying to cope with the rigors of life in a confining, cultural cage of ambivalence. Revealing and profoundly resonate, Goodbye Solo convincingly paints a picture of the immigrant experience struggling with the everyday expectations of survival within the American canvas.

Bahrani has previously revisited stories about off-kilter characters doing what it takes to scrape by in the "golden land of opportunity". In 2005's Man Push Cart, Bahrani spotlights a former Pakistani musician peddling morning refreshments on the streets of New York City. Chop Shop (2007) features a couple of Puerto Rican youngsters hanging around rusty scrap yards and auto shops within the vicinity of Shea Stadium. Now Bahrani returns to his familiar hometown of Winston-Salem to intimately peek at an affable Senegalese cab driver (Souleymane Sy Savane) and his desperate maturing Southern passenger (Red West) en route to a seemingly fatal destination.

As the optimistic garrulous cabbie, Savane is a breath of fresh air as the openhearted tour guide hoping to bring some enlightenment in an otherwise tedious and lonely duty of randomly transporting personalities as they briefly weave in and out of his wandering existence. When a sullen and distance elderly West climbs into Savane's cab (and consciousness) the bond is eventually secured as both men realize the impact of quiet, unassuming alienation.

Although the cheery African cabbie tries to pep up his irascible fare, he fears that the grumpy West has an insidious agenda in store for himself. Requesting that Sevane becomes his "personal driver" with specific instructions to take the old man to a scenic mountaintop with a certain "date with destiny", the cabbie worries that West wants to senselessly end his life. As a stalling tactic, Savane convinces West to meet his treasured family to see what life is worth living for given that one has something to look forward to besides lingering despair. Sevane's Mexican wife (Carmen Leyva) and stepdaughter (Diana Franco Galindo) meet the acquaintance of the dire-ridden curmudgeon-something that Sevane feels may change this elder guy's angst-driven anxieties.

It's true that the familiarity of the premise-a younger bright spark eventually influencing the loneliness of a hopeless aging misfit-has been done countless times before with resounding results. However, Bahrani's inspirational take on this mismatch coupling is fortified with absolute conviction and powerful pathos. Beautifully shot as the lavish Southern landscape poses as a peaceful stimulus for the contentious and conflicted oldster and his Senegalese savior, Goodbye Solo is another tantalizing triumph for Bahrani's search for the foreign visitor's vitality impacting the malaise of Americanized sensibilities. Indeed, this is a solid character study that vibrates vividly between two unlikely companions on separate paths to discovery.

As evidenced in Bahrani's vast and varied trio of revelatory indie films, the human heart pumps with resilience and righteousness whether one's versed in a distinctive foreign tongue or not.