Bahrani’s Film ‘Goodbye Solo’ Anything but Garden Variety

Director Bahrani discusses “Goodbye Solo” and the unusual world that he creates through his characters.

Although the exotic sounding birth name of director Ramin Bahrani and the beauty of his films might give the impression of an auteur with an accent and high brow vernacular, the American-born director is as American as apple pie or his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Bahrani recently sat down with The Epoch Times to discuss his most recent film Goodbye Solo, and the world that he creates through his characters—a world that is anything but garden variety.

Bahrani’s last two films are noted for taking a protagonist with an unusual set of circumstances. In Man Push Cart, that character is Ahmad, a former Pakistani rock star who sells coffee and donuts at a push cart in Manhattan. In Chop Shop, the everyday hero is Alejandro, a Latino street orphan working at an auto-body shop struggling to make a better life for himself. These characters represent a piece of the melting pot that is America, but they also have their quirks that make them unique individuals.

And despite any struggles they encounter, the happiness in their hearts draws the audience into the film. The same quality is present with his lead character Solo in his new film Goodbye Solo.