Goodbye Solo

Ramin Bahrani's indie film is set in Winston-Salem, NC, where cheerful 34-year-old Senegalese immigrant Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) works as a taxi driver in the city's less-desirable neighborhoods. Picking up a morose 70-year-old white Southerner named William (Red West), whose destination is Blowing Rock peak, Solo gradually comes to believe that the visibly depressed William is planning to commit suicide (no mention is made of a return trip). Solo takes it upon himself to drive William away from that fatal decision, both literally and figuratively. Goodbye Solo navigates tricky narrative territory as Solo talks about his own personal life and goals, presenting a positive message that William doesn't entirely appreciate (a point that Solo never quite fully absorbs). While the basic story has a formulaic feeling, Bahrani enriches the film with some surprising elements, including a subplot about Solo's unlikely friendship with local drug dealers, as well as the genuine sense of mystery surrounding William, whose character is not given a detailed backstory to match Solo's life tale. Veteran actor West and newcomer Savane have a wonderfully off-balance chemistry that keeps the viewer on edge in this Venice Film Festival winner that ends on a perfectly enigmatic note. Highly recommended. (P. Hall)