Soul

Grade: A-

Disney/Pixar’s new film Soul (now streaming on Disney+) is a much-needed glimmer of hope and relief at the end of a year that has been difficult for many. Of two grades I was debating between, I settled on the lower one. (The plot got a tad too busy with excessive and confusing technical details about the after/beforelife – and it turned unnecessarily heavy-handed at a point that felt random and unearned.) Otherwise, I was drawn in by so much here that snuck up on me and burrowed into my heart. One aspect that surprised me so much was the HUMOR. I laughed out loud a good handful of times, including one gag that kept me laughing periodically throughout the rest of the scene, as I thought of it again and again.

Soul had me at the first moment the protagonist is revealed, because he looked and acted like one of my favorite teachers from my youth – Mr. Coleman. He is Joe – a band teacher at a NYC middle school, who dabbles in jazz piano on the side. I thought “Ok, say no more. I think I know where this is going. This will be an Inspirational Music Teacher movie, like Mr. Holland’s Opus with a bit of Dangerous Minds thrown in.” Then Joe gets a call from a former student who gets him a much-coveted gig – playing with a dream jazz combo at a local club. It was at that point that I saw shades of Sing, that splendid film that culminates with a big concert at the end. Turns out Soul had other plans. On his way home after nailing the audition, Joe falls down an open manhole, and finds himself on a conveyor belt towards the afterlife. Not ready to die, he tries to escape and ends up in a beforelife of sorts. He is saddled with the duty of mentoring a soul who hasn’t been born yet, to help them find their spark so they can have a fulfilling life on earth. The soul he is assigned to is known only as 22, and is notoriously difficult. No mentor – including Freud, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa – has been able to get through to 22, so 22 has been stuck in this limbo for thousands of years.

There are traces of all the great influences I mention above – as well as What Dreams May Come, Inside Out, and a lame mismatched buddy comedy – yet rather than fall into being a predictable retread, Soul takes these things and uses them to bloom into its own big beautiful cinematic experience. The animation makes effective use of colors; most memorably for me was the blue that would show up when a character is playing music and finds themselves “in the zone.” And I have to mention the large pink ship, led by a stray hippie who sails around the great before and helps out whoever or whatever needs helping – while blasting a Bob Dylan song. Subterranean Homesick Blues. I get it now. Good one.

The voice talent is spot on. Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey carry the movie as Joe and 22, in addition to the superb support by the likes of Graham Norton, Phylicia Rashad, Questlove, Angela Bassett, and my friend June Squibb. June had a tiny but memorable role in Palm Springs – another of my favorite movies of 2020. It is nice to “see” her here, in another quality piece.

I was in awe at how fearless the movie was in its dead-on observations about the human condition. The lost souls in the great before turn into monster-like manifestations of themselves when their anxiety overwhelms them. This happens to 22, and when Joe ends up inside anxiety-ridden 22, he sees people and souls from 22’s life berating her and verbally beating her up. The physical forms are all familiar faces, yet the voice coming from all of them is 22’s. What I took this to mean is that when we get into a pity party mood and think of people we know spouting hurtful comments (that they’ve either said or “might say”), it’s really just ourselves coming down hard on ourselves through images of those other people. Nobody can hurt us – that’s an inside job.

My mind was blown by that moment, and many others throughout this film, which is not afraid to “go there.” Despite some of its unnecessary bombast, the ending is lovely in its simplicity. We aren’t spoonfed a belabored conclusion. What a magical movie this is. Get ready to fall in love with Soul.

Grade: A-