Up until a couple of weeks ago I have looked forward to seeing The Soloist. Lisa and I have seen the preview trailers for weeks and it looks like a great story. Then, Jamie Foxx, one of the stars, made some very crude attacks, at an attempt of humor, on 16 year old Miley Cyrus on a radio show. I have always disliked it when comedians think they can only be funny at the expense of others. I think I dislike it more when people laugh at those attacks. That’s why comedians keep doing it. You don’t have to be creative to be mean or crude. But I think it is lower than low that a child would be the target of such low humor.
I know what some reading this are thinking. I hear it in the media, by the ones who need the cover, “you have to separate the artist from the art.” I don’t agree. Money talks. As long as the artist can do or say anything he or she wants and still make lots of money, he or she will continue to offend.
I think moms and dads across the country would be extremely angry if those attacks were directed toward their own child. Miley’s dad, Billy Ray, needs to be commended for the way he publicly handled the situation. On the Bonnie Hunt Show Mr. Cyrus said, “”It was hurtful. There wasn’t nothing funny about it. And, quite frankly, I think if I said those things about his daughter, he might not find it so comedic.” Well said and well done Mr. Cyrus.
Since then Mr. Foxx has made a public apology on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. It is still messed up that he said, “I didn’t mean it maliciously, I am a comedian.” (Malicious: deliberately harmful; spiteful) I am not sure why our culture supports malicious humor. Maybe it just reflects the level of immaturity or lack of self-esteem that has driven the reality TV craze in America.
Thanks to Mr. Foxx’s somewhat of a, maybe best way he knew how, apology, Lisa and I may go see The Soloist. Josh Hurst of Christianity Today gave the movie 3.5 out of 4 stars. The movie is PG-13.
He writes in the Family Corner of his review:
The Soloist is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some drug use, and language. For the most part, the rating comes simply from the film’s examination of some rather unpleasant issues, such as homelessness and mental illness. There is very little foul language, save for two or three uses of the Lord’s name in vain, as well as one scene where a couple of vulgar words are used to underscore the seriousness of the situation the characters are in.
Mr. Hurst was also very impressed with the movie.
…The Soloist is a knockout. It treads some familiar terrain, but it gets it right where other, higher-profile films have come up short. It won’t win a ton of awards, but it will win a place of fondness and esteem in the hearts of those fortunate enough to see it—and that’s way better.
Wright—who previously directed a masterful adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and the bewitching Atonement—has arrived at the point where he can officially be moved out of the Promising Young Filmmakers camp and into the Great Filmmakers camp. Stated simply: The Soloist is a remarkable movie. And the move to April turns out to be a blessing; this is a small, intimate kind of movie that deserves to be cradled and cherished, not slathered in crass award-show buzz and industry politics.
…this isn’t Forest Gump, and it sure isn’t Benjamin Button. This film is full of surprises, and chief among them is this: It has real weight, nuance, and complexity. While it might make you feel good, it’s not a Feel-Good Movie—it’s a movie with real heft.
Steve Lopez is a real guy who wrote a real book about the real Nathaniel Ayers, and much of the film’s success comes from the adaptation by Susannah Grant, whose screenplay never loses sight of the fact that Nathaniel is a character—not a plot device—and that he isn’t to be defined by his Condition, but by his personality, his history, his values. He’s a regular guy who’s fallen on some tough times, and he’s just as capable of messing things up and acting like an idiot as anyone else. And that’s how Foxx plays him. It’s not a flashy, Oscar-bait performance, but a surprisingly understated one; he essentially mumbles his way through most of the movie, but it works.
Grace is a big theme, too, and The Soloist examines it in surprisingly rich, often religious language. Wright, whose subtle use of imagery to tell his story is masterful throughout the movie, creates a striking contrast between some rather messy, “worldly” imagery and the heavenly presence of Nathaniel’s music, and the simple mercies that pass between two friends. Note also the language used when Steve and his editor and ex-wife (Catherine Keener) discuss the nature of grace, how Steve speaks of human weakness so bluntly and the sublime so elegantly.
