Movie Analysis: Soloist

Soloist
In 2009, a comparably young well-known movie director’s, Joe Wright’s, third film, Soloist, was released. This movie is based on Steven Lopez’s true story about his friendship whom one well-known LA Times columnist with whom a musical-talented homeless. The magnificent point of this movie is to watch how the director expresses the whole LA cultures and ideas in a two hours long movie. LA has unique and special characteristics compare to any other city. Joe Wright and screen writer, Susannah Grant, uses various cinematic techniques to express those characteristics with scene details with implications to express the actual views of LA and with outstanding actors’ acting and storyline to portrait LA’s issues and ideas. This film is just

LA itself.
In this film, LA is portrayed in two big categories: scene and storyline. The first one is the scene. The most vivid characteristic of this film’s scene is diversity. From beginning to the end, this whole movie shows various differences in explicitly and implicitly. In here, diversity does not only mean races. It contains social hierarchy based on education, wealth, or social position. It also deals with the individual’s perspective of their lives. The main characters, Steve and Nathanael, have different races, different classes, and different perspectives. Steve is well-educated, well-known LA Times Columnist while Nathanael is crumped out Julliard due to mental disorder and being a homeless for several decades. Both of people live their lives with their own perspective that whole story starts with Steve’s interest and sympathy. LA is full of various races with different social position. Everyone in LA lives with different perspective on their lives. Someone will live with passion, like Steve -workaholic. Some others might live with given-talents like Nathanael. And yes, sometimes the higher position people might give a hand to lower social position for an opportunity whether it’s due to their pity or not. Every year, various people come to LA to study and to work from many different places in domestics or in international. In anywhere LA, it is rare to see a place filled with a single race. The other characteristics of this film will be the short details about actual LA.
Between main plots of the story, Soloist shows various LA features: huge intersection of highways, crowded hospital with different races, elders’ tour with headphone, clean sky of good weather, fashions, and current LA social issues. Which are unnecessary for developing the story. The director express LA factors not as a word but actually shows how LA looks and how people lives. Huge intersection of highways or well-structured downtown locals show the size of mobility within the city. LA is a large landscape city which requires cars to everyone. Driving is an essential part of LA life. The tourists for LA’s historical places are always happening not only for domestic elders but also for various domestic or international tourists. In the linking scenes between main plot scenes, the air plane scenes are used to describe the clean-cloudless weather of LA. The most brilliant explicit portraits of LA in this film are fashion and social issues. It is also important to pay attention to Nathanael’s fashion. In every scene, he shows up with different fashion style. One day he wears like a magician with a American flag prints on. The other day he decorates himself with various shiny items. In another day he dresses up himself with a scarf. As the other past literature or historic data, fashion takes high value in LA. Since the LA contains much part of entertainment industry, it is important to be standing out to people as a celebrity or a public figure. It is their need to bring people’s attention to support their own propagandas or ideas. The next important point is showing many social issues.
During the film was recorded, the LA was suffering for abundant number of homeless people, drugs, violence, and sexual crimes.

It is still problematic issues. The film could give a false-image of hope by scene of saving them, however the director decided to shows the real version of how did they handle by the authorities. Steve is attracted to Nathanael’s musical talent and view of the other people’ lives, so he persuades the mayor to support them in a good way. But the things did not solve well. Many of those homeless and people are arrested for their crimes: homeless, drugs trade, violence, and sexual crimes. While the arrest, many people are died or serious injured. This is not what Steve want to solve the issues. The Soloist points out that there are still places where the other people do not really know and people at those places still suffer in their will or forces by environment. In addition, without their own will of recovery, no one can help or save them. Moreover, the Soloist points out the infinite competition system which causes the great number of people’s loss of their jobs and more and more lacking interests on the other people. In the beginning of the story, Steve fell down quiet seriously from his bike because of urgent animal appearance so he had to be hospitalized for several days. When he gets back to his house, no one called or left him even a voice message. In a same sense, generation by generation, people prefer easier-faster technology rather than analogue such as newspaper. This reduces the profit of the newspaper firm which would bring wastage. There will be competition to survive. Although these issues portrayed in 2009, it is still problematic even six years

later.
While the message of explicit portrait of LA in this film is obvious, the finding and understanding implicit portrait LA is also interesting. The most significant implicit message in storyline is the relationship change between Steve and Nathanael. The start of the relationship is just caused of Steve’s small interest and need of new source of a column. However happening by happening, Steve recognizes his fault that under the name of the friend, he kept treat Nathanael as a child or a person who needs a help. Which means that Steve did not see Nathanael as equal as he is. Steve tried to change Nathanael in his perspective of help while Nathanael satisfied his way of life and already suffering from his mental disorder problem. At the end, thorough many hardships, Steve starts calling him Mr. Ayers which draws a line between him and Nathanael. This is a gesture of Steve’s recognition Nathanael as a matured man who has firm perspective and ideas of his or her life.
Many social issues were boomed and are still emerged in LA. More people come to LA looking for an opportunity for a better life. Soloist shows not only the appearance of LA but also the culture, ideas and current social issues. It is more interesting film that this is from a true story by real people, Steve Lopez and Nathanael Anthony Ayer. During watching this film, the audience would feel the director’s intention of continuous showing unnecessary surrounding view scenes: buildings, front yards, air plane, high ways intersections, and burning cars. These factors are unique and special features of LA. As Steve accept differences, once the difference is accepted, the understanding of own and of the others will be acknowledged. This film is well-made LA portrayed movie.