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Review

Award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker Ramin Bahrani's (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop) interest has long been in the lives and resolve of working-class people (mostly immigrants and people of color) and their struggles to succeed in America. In his third feature, talkative and effervescently optimistic Solo (Souléymane Sy Savané) -— a Senegalese immigrant married to a Mexican woman -— drives a taxi in North Carolina. He may not have much, but sees only bright possibilities in the future. That view is challenged when he picks up William (Red West), a grumpy and disheveled white man in his 60s with a dark, almost impenetrable secret. Much to William's annoyance (even anger), Solo instantly befriends him; when he is thrown out of his home, he actually moves into a seedy motel room with William. When Solo realizes that the man is planning his suicide, he feels compelled to talk him out of it. And here it is: the American Dream —- is it something that still shines bright, or is it about to be extinguished? This is an engrossing, intimate and rewarding drama from an independent filmmaker with a unique filmic voice.

 -- Raymond Murray