Solitary Man

The veteran actor Michael Douglas takes heads the indie route to star in one of my favorite films of 2010 – Solitary Man. The film reminds me of Ben Stiller’s ‘Greenberg‘, about a man who is trying to find meaning in life, except that Douglas is far better and much more appealing.

The plot, infused with comic moments tells the story of Ben Kalman (Douglas), a renown businessman who owns a chain of car dealerships, whose career and marriage are being ruined by his constant indiscretions both professionally and personally. Will he be able to rescue himself from the abyss into which it is located? The story also weaves questions about death and the fragility of the human psyche in a very entertaining way.

How many times have you heard of people being in situations where they have lost everything or about to lose everything, but refuse to see the gravity of the situation; a person who never learns from his mistakes, who prefers to apologize before asking permission first. This is one of Douglas’ best performances in years. It’s full of a rogue charisma that he has perfected throughout his career. One of the salient features of Douglas is his charm and outside of Gekko, he’s never played a role like this one.

Michael is accompanied by a cast of heavyweights such as Susan Sarandon, Mary Louise Parker, Danny Devito and Jesse Eisenberg. It is a pleasure to see this cast work together in this genuine, witty and heartfelt film about the ups and downs of a man. I think we all know people like Kalman – or maybe one might look in the mirror and see none other than… Ben Kalman himself.