GOODBYE SOLO

Another wonderful movie from Ramin Bharani (the director of Man Push Cart). It tells the story of interaction between a middle-aged Senegalese taxi driver Solo in a small town in USA and William, his aged (& apparently weathered) white passenger who presents him with a curious deal.

Solo & William are a study in stark contrasts. While Solo is loquacious, needs no reason to beam his warm smile at anyone and is genuinely warm to everybody (especially his passengers), William is copybook taciturn & guarded to the extent that we end up knowing almost nothing about him at all. Although he is initially annoyed with Solo's advances to connect to him, he is unable to resist the genuine warmth of the taxi driver and opens to him a bit (just a bit). Solo's has a Hispanic wife & cute stepdaughter. He is studying hard to realise his dream of becoming a flight attendant. William seems to be winding up his affairs in every sense of the word.

The beauty of the movie is the simplicity with which the interaction between these two are captured and the gravity in the relationship which engrosses the viewer. The director ably harnesses the emotinal energy in many a silent moments and the eyes of the lead actors which are pregnant with several unanswered questions and unuttered answers. 


A beauty from the realms of bare-bones movie making !!