Each year the RFP Overlooked Awards celebrates films that didn’t quite get the praise in the awards season they deserved. New to this year's awards is the expansion of the Best Picture Honorable Mentions to nine entries. If the Academy Awards can nominate 10 films, there's no reason why I can't highlight 10 films as well.
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Winner: GOODBYE SOLO
Ramin Bahrani's touching drama blew me away like few films did in 2009. As a result I named it the best film of the year. It was a hard choice along with THE HURT LOCKER and A SERIOUS MAN as the three films were instant masterpieces to me. Bahrani's story of Solo, an African immigrant who befriends an old white man who seems determined to kill himself, is full of life — both the good and bad parts. The tight, but simple, screenplay wraps the audience up in the lives of these characters and uses our discovery of them as the driving force of the narrative. Souleymane Sy Savane's lead performance is electric and he is supposed wonderfully by the gruff Red West. Bahrani's direction is simple and direct, ending the film with bittersweet poetry. Small films with no stars get overlooked every year, but rarely do they have the dramatic power of this one. Bahrani has quietly become an indie superstar. His previous films, MAN PUSH CART and CHOP SHOP, have received great praise. From story to direction, this magnificent film clearly shows he is a master of his craft.