Tonight a friend and I saw the movie “Solitary Man” by Brian Koppel.
My friend hated the movie. She found the main character Ben (Michael Douglas) annoying, the story unbelievable and above all depressing.
I really liked the movie; it’s a convincing portrait of the car dealer as an older man – glib, pathetic, lusting after college girls, unable to distinguish between fear of death and fear of self-knowledge.
Also the movie and its title song reminded me of the existence of Neil Diamond’s song “Solitary Man”: “I'll be what I am / A solitary man.”