Goodbye Solo
“A film of great intelligence and quiet assurance, Goodbye Solo exhilarates without ever trafficking in easy uplift.” — Dana Stevens, Slate
USA
Editor: Ramin Bahrani
Producers: Jason Orans, Ramin Bahrani
Screenplay: Ramin Bahrani, Bahareh Azimi
Photography: Michael Simmonds
Production designer: Chad Keith
Sound: Tom Efinger
M offensive language
With: Souléymane Sy Savané (Solo), Red West (William), Diana Franco Galindo (Alex), Carmen Leyva (Quiera), Lane ‘Roc' Williams (Roc), Mamadou (Mamadou)
Festivals: Venice, Toronto, London 2008; SXSW 2009
Winner Critics' Prize, Venice Film Festival 2008
Senegalese Solo (the gregariously likeable Souléymane Sy Savané) is an irrepressible optimist hoping for work in airline hospitality and tooling around Winston-Salem in his cab. One evening, the weary, taciturn William (Red West, a former bodyguard to Elvis Presley) climbs into the back seat. His in-advance request to be left at a local mountain-top implies no intention of returning alive. Before Solo drives him there in two weeks he'll do anything he can to persuade the old man that life is good, even move him in with his own young family. The evolving interchange between these two radically different spirits (and generations of Southern man) is continually surprising and beautifully performed. — BG
“The story told in... Ramin Bahrani's wonderful third feature is moving and mysterious, and you may find yourself pondering its implications for a long time after the film's simple and haunting final images have faded.” — A.O. Scott, NY Times
Read The Lumiere Reader's recent review of Goodbye Solo here.