Entertainment

HE’S FARE GAME, THEN THE RIDE GETS BUMPY

RAMIN Bahrani, who in cisively depicted the immigrant experience in New York City with his first two documentary-style dramas, returns to his native Winston-Salem, NC, for “Goodbye Solo.”

The new film about another outsider is also intimate and exquisitely crafted. But it’s far warmer and more accessible, almost at the audience-friendly level of last year’s art-house smash “The Visitor.”

In this new film from the Brooklyn-based director of the acclaimed “Man Push Cart” and “Chop Shop,” a gregarious Senegalese taxi driver in his 30s becomes fascinated with a gruff 70-year-old fare who offers him $1,000 for an unusual job.

In two weeks, the elderly man wants to be driven from the old tobacco city to a peak at Blowing Rock in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the only spot on Earth where snow has been recorded falling upward.

The cabby, Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane), knows William is interested in something far darker than sightseeing.

Intrigued, Solo arranges to take all of William’s cab calls.

When William gets drunk at a bar, Solo takes him to his own home, much to the displeasure of Solo’s pregnant wife, who is already annoyed about Solo’s aspirations to become a flight attendant.

Solo eventually ends up rooming at William’s hotel, where his attempts to ferret out the reasons for his mysterious friend’s self-destructive impulses lead to a falling out.

The role of William is a perfect fit for Red West, a well-weathered member of Elvis Presley’s Memphis Mafia who has served as a bodyguard as well as a stuntman and bit-part actor.

He’s an apt complement for Savane’s ebullience in this two-hander.

The only other significant role goes to Diana Franco Galindo as Solo’s stepdaughter, who bonds with William.

Touching and uplifting, “Goodbye Solo” is a small gem.

GOODBYE SOLO Another peak for Bahrani. Running time: 91 minutes. Not rated (drugs). At the Angelika and the Cinema 1.