When jaded, award-winning journalist Steve Lopez (Downey, Jr.) encountered a schizophrenic homeless man playing beautiful music on a two-stringed violin underneath a statue of Beethoven in a Los Angeles park, he thought he'd found a good subject for his column. But as he got to know Nathaniel Ayers, a Julliard-trained classical music prodigy, he became much more involved in the man's life, working to help him get off the streets and play music again. Based on Lopez's acclaimed columns in the L.A. Times (later collected as a book), The Soloist is "a deeply empathetic exploration of mental illness and a winning showcase for the talents of its two stars, Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx." (Time) more at soloistmovie.com 35mm Cinemascope
2009, color, 1 hour 45 minutes, USA