Steve Lopez, played by Robert Downey Jr., is a disheartened and discouraged Los Angeles Times reporter looking for his next story.
When Lopez finds Mr. Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx, playing his two string violin in a city park he has no way of knowing that this story will be the story that changes his heart.
Lopez, working off his reporter instincts, begins to dig into Ayers’s past and realizes that Ayers not only plays the violin but the cello as well, which he studied at the school Julliard.
How does a man with such talent and passion for music get to be homeless? This is the question that plagues reporter Lopez and sends him on his quest to help Ayers claim a better life for himself.
As the relationship between Ayers and Lopez progresses, director Joe Wright brings viewers into a world they may not be comfortable seeing.
This would be the Lamp Community in Los Angeles. No details are left unseen; this enhances the beauty of the music when Ayers plays. Frankly, I felt embarrassed to watch Ayers play his cello.
The raw emotion that is evicted from this man is such an intimate moment that I felt as though I should not be looking.
The utter admiration for the man and the music is clearly displayed in Lopez’s eyes, and the audience begins to see the bonds of friendship forming.
Inevitably, however, no amount of musical or mental help can help Ayers overcome his ailing mind. What troubles him is schizophrenia, and what troubles Lopez is that there is nothing he can do about it.
The actors portray these characters so honestly that they are no longer actors. Downey and Foxx are not present in this movie and for that they should be applauded.
In the end, Lopez realizes the help he has wanted to give Ayers is staring him right in the face and he slowly learns to accept reality as it is, not for what he can make it.