Goodbye Solo (2009)
89%RT Audience Score: 82%
Awards & Nominations: 3 wins & 9 nominations
An original and thoughtful human drama, Goodbye Solo looks at relationships and loneliness while proving director Ramin Bahrani’s is an important American voice.
Goodbye Solo is a movie that will make you feel all the feels. It’s a heartwarming story about two unlikely friends who come together and form a bond that will last a lifetime. The cinematography is stunning, and the performances are top-notch. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll leave the theater feeling like you’ve just experienced something truly special. Don’t miss out on this gem of a movie!
Production Company(ies)
Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures,
Distributor
Roadside Attractions
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Blowing Rock, North Carolina, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language
Year of Release
2009
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 31m
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Language(s):English, French, Wolof, Spanish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Mar 27, 2009 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 25, 2009
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
Goodbye Solo, Ramin Bahrani, Souléymane Sy Savané, Red West, Bahareh Azimi, Jason Orans, Comedy, Drama, R, $871.3K, 94%, 82%, reviewed by Nicolas Rapold, Wesley Morris, Ben Kenigsberg, Joshua Rothkopf, directed by Ramin Bahrani, written by Bahareh Azimi and Ramin Bahrani, produced by Ramin Bahrani and Jason Orans, Roadside Attractions, MPAA rating, relationships, loneliness, Senegalese cab driver, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, William, old man, life, worth living, personal mission, convince, nothing left to live for, reveal, men, need each other, language, English, Diana Franco Galindo, Lane ‘Roc’ Williams, Mamadou Lam, Carmen Leyva
Worldwide gross: $942,209
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,302,237
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,531
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 142,011
US/Canada gross: $870,781
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,203,516
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,146
US/Canada opening weekend: $38,042
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $52,578
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,193
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Red West – William
Diana Franco Galindo – Alex
Lane ‘Roc’ Williams – Roc
Mamadou Lam – Mamadou
Carmen Leyva – Quiera
Director(s)
Ramin Bahrani
Writer(s)
Bahareh Azimi, Ramin Bahrani
Producer(s)
Ramin Bahrani, Jason Orans
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
3 wins & 9 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (108) | Top Critics (46) | Fresh (101) | Rotten (7)
Goodbye Solo relies on forced character dynamics and two clunkily directed, monotonous turns, in a milieu…that fails to take satisfactory shape.
October 20, 2014
Nicolas Rapold
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
November 24, 2011 | Rating: 3/4
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
November 18, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
November 17, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Utterly engrossing dual-character study, unfolding with a serene disregard for indie quirkiness, Goodbye Solo radiates authenticity.
December 16, 2009
Ronnie Scheib
Variety
TOP CRITIC
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.
October 16, 2009 | Rating: 4/5
Stuart McGurk
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
An unforgettable mountaintop experience that touches the heart and makes the spirit soar.
June 6, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)
The young independent filmmaker Ramin Bahrani has crafted a careful and subtle movie about both the promise and despair of life that’s told mainly in the faces of its two very different leads.
December 7, 2018 | Rating: 3/4
Kelly Jane Torrance
Washington Times
Although there’s a lot in this movie by which to be impressed, there is still something missing. The main trouble is that Solo was very hard to believe – maybe even too good to be true.
August 9, 2018
Sarah Manvel
Critic’s Notebook
Goodbye Solo is Bahrani’s best film so far, better even than Chop Shop. The images produced by Michael Simmonds, his regular cinematographer, are more definitive, more miniature.
December 13, 2017
Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
MUBI
Goodbye Solo feels lived-in rather than forced upon us. Bahrani, who is his own editor, and regular DP Michael Simmonds have a sad, solitary, streetlamp-lit feel for night-shift rhythms.
September 29, 2015
Mark Asch
Stop Smiling
As a diary of travels in multiculti America, it’s in the same bag as The Visitor, for better or worse.
August 18, 2011
Kelly Vance
East Bay Express…
Plot
A Senegalese cab driver in North Carolina, Solo, forms an unlikely friendship with an elderly man, William, who wants to be left alone, but Solo is determined to show him that life is worth living in Goodbye Solo.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film on Fresh Kernels.
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