The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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The Soloist
Drama · Music · 2009
A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.
Movie details
The Soloist
“Life has a mind of its own”
2009 Drama · Music 1h 57m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.7 / 10
56.4K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
56 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
61 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Soloist?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Adrenaline Seeker
“If it slows down, you check your phone.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Coda
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Joe Wright
Written by
Susannah Grant
Robert Downey Jr.
Steve Lopez
Jamie Foxx
Nathaniel Ayers
Catherine Keener
Mary Weston
Tom Hollander
Graham Claydon
Nelsan Ellis
David Carter
Michael Bunin
Adam Crane
LisaGay Hamilton
Jennifer Ayers
Court is in session
Put The Soloist on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.