SOUL
(directed by Pete Docter & Kemp Powers, 2020)
****+ (out of 5)
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> Pixar delivers again, with another colorful, heartfelt, big-hearted rumination on love in its many incarnations.
. There was very little drama at Hollywood’s Big Night, when ‘Best Animated Feature’ and ‘Best Score’ Oscars were announced. Check and check. I could not have been giddier to see the fine humanist musician John Batiste accept his golden icon with a warmth and generosity of spirit that lit up the world. It is what John does. (His jazz compositions here are dynamite.) And telling great stories is what Pixar does.
. This is a tale about Black characters that is very careful not to make “Blackness” a thing. It’s respectful enough to steer clear of white tropes about Black people, never condescending. And this is some deeply spiritual stuff. Heady material for an animated film.
. Our hero Joe, is a middle-aged middle school band leader who seems to have passed on big dreams of playing jazz piano, to mentor and inspire kids of questionable talent, but undeniable self-worth. Unexpectedly, the gig that just could be his Big Break miraculously comes Joe’s way, playing with an exacting jazz legend he has always admired. He is so giddy about it, he fails to notice that open manhole directly in his path. No, Joe! Stop! Oh! Too late. A very complex succession of events are set into motion, separating Joe’s soul from his body, when he willfully refuses to move on to the Great Beyond.
. If you read the plot summary on Wikipedia, it will befuddle and flummox you. But it’s a Pete Docter movie. Pete’s a friggin’ genius. I can’t imagine many other animators who could successfully float a project this “other” to investors, except perhaps his peer Brad Bird. Clearly, a new generation of storytellers is coming into their own at Pixar. This story is so esoteric, so drenched in the cultural detritus of the sixties drug culture and spiritual awakenings, it’s an adjustment to think of it as a “kid’s film”. At one point a New Age pirate and his crew of pilgrimaging hippies show up to push the plot along. It’s all very… groovy.
. These outings always feature extraordinary vocal talent, and SOUL is no exception, with performances by Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Alice Braga, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Bassett, the mighty Wes Studi and The Roots iconic late-night bandleader Questlove. Everybody is good.
. One can see a clear link between the themes of INSIDE OUT and SOUL, in the quest to be a whole person and not just a unique assemblage of character traits. In a world that seems to have lost its way, what could resonate more than a story about a person losing their way, being separated from their authentic self- and then finding it again, in a triumph of personal integration? If only!
– In a fractious time, a message of unity is a love-letter to our collective SOUL.
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