Solitary Man

Obviously, this post is coming a little late. Our illustrious review team (Brian) composed this weeks ago, but we have only now been able to get it up. In other words, rent this movie if you can’t see it in theaters, because 4 and 1/2 MovieHumans is tied for the highest rating we’ve ever given.

Who would have thought that Michael Douglas still had an ace up his sleeve?  I didn’t, but after watching Solitary Man, I couldn’t help but sit back in my seat, impressed at the acting chops I had just witnessed.  Consistently way above average, Douglas didn’t do much that was blindingly original; the basis for his character here is something that he has excelled at for most of his career, most notably in Wall Street: the debonair, jaded professional who can talk the talk.  And indeed, that’s where we drop in on him after the beginning credits roll.  But the movie takes a turn just a few minutes in, fast-forwarding that man six years into the future, ripping the stable structure of success out from under his feet, and exposing a fascinating character study of a man who is still addicted to his former self, unable to come to terms with the “now” of his life.

There are two films recently that have dealt with very similar topics: The Wrestler, and most recently Crazy Heart.  Don’t be alarmed, though; each film does a fantastic job of exploring the material in its own unique fashion.  There are awards galore surrounding this particular theme, as Mickey Rourke was nominated for an Oscar for the former, and Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for the latter.  I may be jumping the gun, especially since this movie is being released in the summer with little chance to be Oscar bait, but Douglas may have a chance to make this a hat trick.

Now to be fair, Douglas also has a stellar cast supporting him, with a very random assortment that includes Mary-Louise Parker, Danny DeVito (their friendly chemistry on-screen is unbelievable), Jenna Fischer, Susan Sarandon, and Jesse Eisenberg.  Also making an appearance is Richard Schiff, as well as Olivia Thirlby, the up-and-coming starlet of Juno fame, who is unfairly uncredited in the film.  These characters all swirl in and out of the mix, fittingly, since Douglas’ character, Ben Kalmen, masochistically alienates himself from the people he cares about most: his daughter, his ex-wife, his best friend from college.  His desires to both reconnect and break away are equally strong, butting heads for the entirety of the film.  When one seems to succeed, the other suddenly overcomes again, and the crushing equilibrium settles in again.  There’s simply not much in the equation here that doesn’t work.  The actors all seem to innately understand their characters, and the characters themselves work seamlessly in the plot.  No one tries to steal scenes, no one proves more ambitious than the original material itself.

The script shines here, and it thankfully gives Ben Kalmen one hell of a rocky road to climb.  The best stories have almost too many obstacles in them, and the script toes that line exactly, making us feel for him while at the same time shaking our heads when he manages to screw up yet again.  His pearls of advice, delivered here and there, sometimes ring true and sometimes just sound like the clichés of a man with a sick view of the world.  Even Kalmen admits at one point, thoroughly wasted, that he “says a lot of stuff.  Some of it’s even true.”  We’re looking point blank at the deconstruction of an ancient myth: that wisdom is an inevitable side effect of age.  Kalmen isn’t wise; he just appears to be so, and he’s so good at keeping up appearances that he’s even fooled himself.  For the entire film, he is so agonizingly close to seeing the real Ben Kalmen, but he instinctively backs away from the cliff every time he gets close.  Every line of his is carefully constructed, and they rarely fall flat.

It’s really true of the whole film: it rarely falls flat.  We see real emotion, genuine turmoil, and although much of the film takes place in public venues with simple talking head setups, it really feels like there’s action, on both an internal and external level.  We’re satisfied upon walking away, and while we could gripe about such small things as a score that could have been better utilized, or a couple of awkward cuts here and there, we really don’t want to.  It says a lot about a film when there are so many positive aspects that the negative ones seem not to matter.  We can only hope that the dramatic fall lineup of 2010 provides us with a few more gems to match this one.