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Goodbye Solo (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:91
Fresh:86
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: An original and thoughtful human drama, Goodbye Solo looks at relationships and loneliness while proving director Ramin Bahrani's is an important American voice.
Theatrical Release:Mar 27, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $809,220
Synopsis: For the follow-up to his critically lauded social-realist dramas MAN PUSH CART and CHOP SHOP, director Ramin Bahrani leaves New York City behind and returns to his home town of Winston-Salem, North... [More]
Starring: Souléymane Sy Savané, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo, Carmen Leyva
Director: Ramin Bahrani
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Reviews for Goodbye Solo
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
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An odd-couple relationship fuels a slow-burning but ultimately moving emotional and spiritual journey in Ramin Bahrani’s third feature. Full Review |
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Utterly engrossing dual-character study, unfolding with a serene disregard for indie quirkiness, Goodbye Solo radiates authenticity. Full Review |
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B |
The problem trying to deal with a self-destructive pessimist is you can never convince them that tomorrow might just be a better day. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Goodbye Solo asks far more questions than it answers, yet there’s something in the tender humanity of the journey that seems to matter much more. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Working to a spare screenplay, Bahrani offers none of the usual clues about either the cabbie’s surprising determination to prevent the tragedy or the old man’s reasons for suicide. This doesn’t always help the quiet drama. Full Review |
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The final sequence up in the mountains is particularly affecting. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Subtle and unflinching, this is genuine and charming. Full Review |
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4/5 |
An endearing character piece shot through with beauty and humility in which, thanks to his leads’ open, sometimes vulnerable performances, tolerance and respect take precedence. Full Review |
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4/5 |
The strange power of those final moments - at once tender, tragic and triumphant - grant this unassuming drama about saying goodbye to Solo the status of a minor masterpiece played in an appropriately minor key. Full Review |
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4/5 |
You get the sense that writer-director Ramin Bahrani is mystified by America’s abandonment of its elderly, and there’s a whiff of disapproval in his treatment of this theme, but it’s only a whiff. Full Review |
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4/5 |
An instantly gripping, funny, quietly persuasive drama that held me from the first frames. Full Review |
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4/5 |
If cinematic form follows cinematic function then Goodbye Solo is a perfect Mercedes of a movie. It is comprised of a quietly purring but powerful narrative engine. Full Review |
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4/5 |
A beautifully understated story of an unconventional friendship. Full Review |
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The raptures that greeted Ramin Bahrani’s Goodbye Solo at festivals last year are wholly deserved. Full Review |
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3/5 |
It's touching in its way, though Bahrani's writing is not nearly as strong as his visual sense, and the denouement is perhaps too understated for its own good. Full Review |
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4/5 |
A quietly affecting, acutely observed little gem of a drama. Full Review |
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4/4 |
Thanks to its engaging leads, colorful Southern setting and poignant story, Goodbye Solo is uplifting despite its solemn subject. Full Review |
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3/5 |
While Bahrani once again shines a light on a fascinating corner of the American experience, he does so while telling a disappointingly contrived story. Full Review |
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He's the best American filmmaker working today whom you've never heard of: Ramin Bahrani has the exquisite talent of making the ordinary and the mundane soar into realms of rarefied and unexpectedly moving drama. Full Review |
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Behind the noble intentions and cluttered rooms and grimy windshields, however, lies a salt-and-pepper portrait with almost as many undercooked contrivances. Full Review |
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