Goodbye Solo

A well-observed story based around immigrants in Winstom-Salem, North Carolina. The plot is centered on an old man’s ominous plan to go to one of the county’s most exposed and dangerous mountaintops on his own. Solo, the young Senegalese taxi driver that he asks to drive him there, agrees reluctantly, and so the countdown to the date of the old man’s trip begins.

In Solo, we have an optimistic sort whose outgoing personality and circumstances as an immigrant taxi-driver have earned him contacts with a disparate circle of friends and “preferred clients” . He is also expecting a child with his hispanic wife. Red West, who plays the old man, William, has little acting to do, but that little is done well. On several occasions, the scene ends with a close up on his aged visage, as he ruefully and silently contemplates whatever it is that seems to be weighing on him. His hair still has a reddish tint, and there is still strength and substance to him, but there is an indication in his rheumy eyes that his spirit is preoccupied with some internal burden that is getting the better of him.

William’s is the mystery that we hope will be explained in due course, but Solo’s situation is equally interesting, if not more so, because there is the sense that it is being observed rather than imagined. Indeed, many of the cast play themselves, the locations are all authentic – no studios or fake backdrops – and any music we hear comes from within the scene. In contrast to this sense of the observed environment, the narrative structure doesn’t always flow so effortlessly. Thus we see Solo dragging his finger slowly across a calendar, for the audience’s benefit, to display the fact that the time to William’s trip is drawing ever closer. There are other examples that I cannot relate without giving some plot points away, so you’ll just have to trust me on this.

Its narrative flaws notwithstanding, there is something appealing about Goodbye Solo, not least the character of Solo himself. It’s not a great yarn per se, but it’s not bad either, and what’s perhaps surprising is that we seem to get to understand William’s situation without it ever being made explicit. For everyone who’s ever experienced the camaraderie of the migrant, or who’s dreamed of becoming a flight attendant (you’ll understand when you see it).

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