Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Good story; could use some better writing and directing

This was a pretty good true story of a journalist who befriends a mentally ill but musically brilliant homeless man in the streets of Los Angeles. The scenes of the homeless community are truly harrowing. Also, Downey and Foxx give excellent performances.I have not read the book so I am not going to attempt a comparison.I did find the writing and direction to be lacking in some ways. The flashbacks are abrupt and jarring; the viewer has to do a lot of filling in the blanks; the scenes showing Nathaniel's episodes of auditory hallucinations are somewhat overdone. We don't even find out until the ending credits that he can play a lot more than one or two instruments.That said, this is an interesting look at a complex man and a powerful and unlikely friendship.