Goodbye Solo

2009 Comedy Drama

A Senegalese taxi driver living in Winston-Salem, NC, makes the decision to befriend a depressive passenger with a tragic plan in director Ramin Bahrani's deeply humanistic drama. Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) is a cab driver who believes that everyone should be engaged and concerned with one another, and thus lacks the self-conscious view of relationships so prevalent in North American society. When a 70-year-old passenger named William (Red West) hails Solo's cab and he books him for another ride in two weeks during the course of the ride, it quickly becomes apparent during their negotiation that the man isn't planning to return from his impending trip. Troubled at the thought of what his passenger has planned, Solo does his best to strike up a friendship and convince William to reconsider. But William harbors a pain more deep-rooted than Solo first senses, displaying a visible desire for privacy that immediately puts him at odds with the genuinely concerned cab driver. more..

Director: Ramin Bahrani

Starring: Red West, Souleymane Sy Savane, Diana Franco Galindo, Carmen Leyva

Reviews

  • Grace is also what defines Mr. Bahrani's filmmaking. I can't think of anything else to call the quality of exquisite attention, wry humor and wide-awake intelligence that informs every frame of this almost perfect film.

    A.O. Scott - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

  • Wherever you live, when this film opens, it will be the best film in town.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    19 January 2013

  • Goodbye Solo is visually simple and stunning, especially the haunting nightscapes of Solo's perambulations. But more important, Goodbye Solo is driven by deep feeling and sensitivity. Don't miss it.

    Ann Hornaday - The Washington Post

    19 January 2013

  • Almost frighteningly alive.

    - The San Francisco Chronicle

    19 January 2013

  • It sounds like the old unstoppable-force-meets-immovable-object trick. Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo has the trappings of such a story, but, mercifully, none of the follow-through.

    Wesley Morris - The Boston Globe

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Actor

    Black Reel Awards (2010)

     
  • Best Overlooked Film

    Central Ohio Film Critics Association (2010)

  • Souleymane Sy Savane

    Gotham Awards (2009)

     
  • Best Male Lead

    Independent Spirit Awards (2010)

     
  • Top Independent Films

    National Board of Review (2009)