The Soloist

Steve Lopez, a columnist at the Los Angeles Times, comes across Nathaniel Ayers playing a violin with two strings left on it. He learns the man once studied at Juilliard and had to leave. He writes the column; readers respond, and someone donates a cello. Lopez arranges housing and lessons, but Ayers's schizophrenia will not let this become a straight story of rescue. Joe Wright directed. Jamie Foxx plays Ayers and Robert Downey Jr plays Lopez. Susannah Grant wrote the screenplay from Lopez's book and his newspaper columns. It was shot mostly in Los Angeles with some scenes in Cleveland. It opened on 24 April 2009 and took 38.3 million dollars against a 60 million budget, hurt by a delayed release date landing just before the summer season. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 57 percent. Roger Ebert wrote that the film has all the elements of an uplifting drama except for the uplift. Who it is for: viewers who like true stories that offer no easy resolution. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a film where friendship fixes everything. Nobody gets better here, and the film keeps that up to the last minute.