Rent Goodbye Solo (2008)

A depressing taxi trip - Goodbye Solo review by Swambi

From the start of the film you can guess how it ends, and as it goes on (and on) much of the reason for keeping watching is just to make sure whether anything more cheerful might occur. But unfortunately it drags without improving and on without much real plot for the entire 90 minutes.

There is some interaction between the incredibly miserable William and the incredibly helpful Souleymane, but even this is severely limited by William's constant miserable bad temper, which is uncomfortable to watch and prevents any detailed character development or discussion.

Souleyman's family and friends are seen, but again never developed in any detail. The film is mostly shot in taxis in the dark. The cinematography is reasonable, but the inevitable progression and profanities combined with a total lack of understanding of William and why he is determined to die, make this puzzling and depressing. Eventually at the end, the film is cut off in mid flow, and the viewer is left rather perplexed as to why there was no more and whether it was intended to have any message at all.