Goodbye Solo

Release Date: March 27 (limited)
Director: Ramin Bahrani

Writers: Bahareh Azimi, Bahrani

Starring: Souléymane Sy Savané, Red West

Improbable duos and their misadventures present writers with a fairly predictable set of tensions, usually boiling down to friendly/grumpy, happy/sad, outgoing/taciturn dichotomies. Director Ramin Bahrani follows the formula, but Goodbye Solo—the Iranian-American director’s third film—comes away with quiet complexity, though not necessarily unpredictability. The friendly character is Solo, an ever-glowing Winston-Salem cabdriver played by Senegalese newcomer Souléymane Sy Savané. The grump is William, seventy-something Red West, of Elvis’ Memphis Mafia and countless other supporting roles. West’s rare smiles—usually provoked by Solo’s stepdaughter, Alex (Diana Franco Galindo), are the film’s emotional bright spots. West brings William a remarkable weight, a lifetime behind him.