The Soloist

Detail: Columnist Steve Lopez is at a dead end. The newspaper business is in an uproar, his marriage to a fellow journalist has fallen apart and he can't entirely remember what he loved about his job in the first place. Then, one day, while walking through Los Angeles' Skid Row, he sees the mysterious bedraggled figure Nathaniel Ayers, pouring his soul into a two-stringed violin. At first, Lopez approaches Ayers as just another story idea in a city of millions. But as he begins to unearth the mystery of how this alternately brilliant and distracted street musician, once a dynamic prodigy headed for fame, wound up living in tunnels and doorways, it sparks an unexpected quest. Imagining he can change Ayers' life, Lopez embarks on a quixotic mission to get him off the streets and back to the world of music. But even as he fights to save Ayers' life, he begins to see that it is Ayers--with his unsinkable passion, his freedom-loving obstinacy and his valiant attempts at connection and love--who is profoundly changing Lopez.

Cast: Catherine Keener Robert Downey Jr. Stephen Root Jamie Foxx Tom Hollander Justin Martin Rachael Harris Matt Besser Angela Featherstone Lisa Gay Hamilton LisaGay Hamilton
Director(s): Joe Wright
Genre(s): Drama
Running Time: 109 Min
Release Date: Friday, April 24, 2009
MPAA Rating: Unrated