Goodbye Solo

Ramin Bahrani made a considerable impression with his first two films, ‘Man Push Cart’ and ‘Chop Shop’: low-budget, ground-level portraits of Sisyphean yet dignified solo existences in modern New York. His third film builds on their neo-realist aesthetic and use of non-professionals while expanding the focus to concentrate on a relationship. Solo (Souéymane Sy Savané), a garrulous Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Bahrani’s home town), is hired by world-weary good old boy William (Red West) to drop him off a couple of weeks hence at what can only be a suicidal assignation.

Baffled by his nihilism, the mindful cabbie determines to find a way to reinspire the old man while trying to maintain his relationship with his wife and stepdaughter. The set-up has the ingredients of a mawkish tale of redemption and hugging but Bahrani delivers something else: an endearing character piece shot through with beauty and humility in which, thanks to his leads’ open, sometimes vulnerable performances, tolerance and respect take precedence. Serious and moving without being solemn or pompous.