Soul

Or: This Wonderful Life

In my capacity as a bookseller, dear reader, and a storyteller, and a critic I find myself having a lot of conversations about people who are weary. Over the past nine months of global pandemic, especially, a lot of us feel stunted in our lives. Art does not inspire, hope withers, our fellow creatures become potential adversaries.

How nice then to find a film, done with grace by the premier storytellers of Pixar, to watch the tale of Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) middle school band teacher, jazz dreamer, and general schlimazel. Separated from his body on the eve of his big break Joe must sneak around the Jerrys, cubist beings (neither girls or robots), who shepherd souls into life and out of it. his only chance to reunite with his body and his dreams is 22 (Tina Fey) a reluctant soul who would gladly give up their chance at life on earth.

Soul is a gorgeous film, as is to be expected, but it is particularly gorgeous in its relationship with music; Jon Baptiste composed the jazz pieces that blossom throughout while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score the geometric beauty of the great beyond (where we go) and the Great Before (where we come from). Far from being a supporting strut to the films excellence, Soul turns its music (both made by characters and through them) into a shining jewel.

It’s also a beautiful film in its depiction of everyday life, the streets of Queens New York, the shine of sunlight through trees. While some have pursed their lips over seeing a Black character spending so much time out of his own skin, I was pleased to see glimpses of Joe’s wider community of Black New York, the Barber shop that is a corner stone of his week (captained by Donald Rawlings, as Dez), his Mother Liddy’s (Prysilla Rashad) tailoring shop, and the magnificent band of Dorothea Williams (Angela Basset), who offers a pre-departed Joe a chance at his dreams.

The mythology of the movie, focused not just great mysteries but the liminal spaces where humans can be transported (tended to by a crew of tidied mystics lead by the embodiment of pleasantries, Graham Norton) works beautifully, and sets a precisely painted background at the Jerry’s injunction to live life to its fullest. Just as Joe awakens to the beauties of the world in all its forms, so to the movie reminds us not to be buried in the grit of our daily dreams and fears. (Be warned, if you suffer from anxiety, you be plunged into well of fear that you are not living your life fully, but no movie’s perfect).

Soul is a gorgeous artistic endeavor that gives us a dose of thankfulness, and delights our ears and eyes along the way.