So I have been looking forward to this film for awhile now. It was supposed to come out in November/December of last year, but got bumped to April. This is not a good sign since most studios have their "dumping" period from about January to April. I was worried that the film wouldn't live up to the expectations I had from reading the book. I was not disappointed, though, the film was just fine. The performances of its two leads (Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx) were great, the story was strong enough, and the film didn't go too long.
The film is based on the true story of Steve Lopez (Downey), a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, who, while searching for a story, comes across Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Foxx), a homeless, mentally unstable musical prodigy. Steve begins to write Nathaniel's story of how he went to Julliard and studied cello, had a nervous breakdown, left school and began a life on the streets. Steve is soon consumed by Nathaniel's situation and tries to help him get back on his feet. He takes Nathaniel to concerts and tries to get him off the streets and on medication. Each of these tasks is met with resistance of some kind by Nathaniel. At times Nathaniel is calm and coherent and takes Steve's advice and at others Nathaniel is violent and irrational.
Ultimately this film is about Steve coming to terms with his own incapacity to love and be responsible for another person. It's also about educating the public on homelessness and mental illness and the kinds of people these things affect. It's touching and sappy, but effective and compassionate to its subjects.
Foxx's performance of Nathaniel is especially good. He does well at conveying the absent-minded Nathaniel as well as the musical genius Nathaniel. He's likable and we feel bad when he has outbursts, because we know he can't help it. Downey is also great as Steve. He is able to make his character likable, even though he's not the greatest guy. Steve's character arc, his change from the beginning of the movie and the end, is great; due in large part to Downey's performance.
Though the film is strong there are some qualms I had with it. It should be noted, however, that these are only problems because I read the book and know the full story. The first is that Steve Lopez is married with a young daughter in the book, in the movie he's divorced (from his editor?) and has a college aged son. This change kind of helps the story, but not really. There were touching moments in the book, like Nathaniel coming to Steve's house and meeting his family. Also, there is not enough about Nathaniel's time at Julliard and how he came to leave the school. The film makes Nathaniel out to be this perfect genius, but in the book it's clear he was good, but he still struggled in school. Minor problems for sure, but significant ones. (If that makes any sense at all).
Overall, I recommend this film. It's touching, uplifting, and at times eye-opening to the situation of people on the streets, particularly those in large cities. I'm fairly certain the director used some actual homeless people in the film.
Rating: 12 Barrels of Monkeys
1 comment:
I saw this last week and really liked it. It reminded me of 'Pursuit of Happiness', maybe because it's true and much of it plays out on the streets, and it's about triumph and broken people and disappointment, though in different ways. Maybe it's because I don't really like Jamie Foxx, but I wasn't too impressed with his performance. Could be that I compared it to that of Will Smith - not close in my view, but severe mental illness is tricky to perform I suppose. Then there was the hard time I had believing that he was really playing the cello - of course he wasn't, but aren't you supposed to believe that he is, if it's well done? Every time he played, I found myself being reminded that he's an actor - not a good thing. I don't blame him as much as the people behind the camera. It was choppy and cheesy to go from his face to some other person's hands - I'm sure it's been done better in other movies. He did grow on me though, and I found him likeable, and more believable by the end. It was the music that really did it for me in this movie - beautifully done, very moving, and I thought Foxx did a good job of showing how it moved him. Robert Downey Jr., - have never seem him in anything and liked him here. The LA street scenes of the homeless - can that be real? - very disturbing in a thought provoking kind of way. Overall I liked it and would rent it, but thought it lacked a bit of polish.
Post a Comment