Roadside pays the full fare for ‘Goodbye Solo’

“Crowd pleaser” is a loosely used term to describe a positive film experience these days, but I couldn’t help but feel that I along with others were three times lucky at the recent Toronto film festival. It unanimously occurred when I viewed Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and finally it was the long-standing sentiment that occurred with my personal favorite of the festival: in Ramin Bahrani’s seminal, most well-crafted work to date in Goodbye Solo. Unlike his previous two, strictly art-house films in Man Push Cart and Chop Shop, I had a strong feeling that the bidding war would include the type of players that can bring such a film to a larger public. I guessed right. THR reports that the cab fare has been paid in full by Roadside Attractions.

Written by Bahrani and writing partner Bahareh Azimi, this is a dramatization between a Senegalese cab driver named Solo and an ornery 70-year-old man named William (Red West). The North Carolina-based pair meet when William offers Solo $1,000 to drive him to a nearby mountain, where he plans to jump to his death. Solo decides to befriend William, hoping to change his mind in the 12 days before their scheduled ride.

Here is my coverage at TIFF, and you can read my full length TIFF review and exclusive interview with Bahrani on IONCINEMA.com’s beta-phase launch date this coming November 17th.