Soul (2020)
A Pixar original story by Pete Docter & Kemp Powers.
In New York City, pianist Joe Gardner teaches music part-time at a middle school while dreaming of playing jazz professionally (“Born to Play”). When he receives an offer to teach full-time, his mother Libba urges him to accept, although Joe is resistant. Joe learns from Curley Lamont, a former student now drummer of famous jazz musician and saxophonist Dorothea Williams, that she has an opening in her quartet, the Dorothea Williams Quartet, and auditions at a jazz club, the Half Note (“Bigger Than Us”). Impressed with Joe's piano playing, Dorothea hires him for that night's show. As Joe heads off, his excitement distracts him, and he falls down an open manhole into the sewer drain.
Joe finds himself a disembodied soul heading into an afterlife called the "Great Beyond". Unwilling to die, he tries to escape (“Falling”) but ends up in the "Great Before” (aka “You Seminar”), a realm where new souls are prepared for life on Earth with guidance from otherworldly counselors—all named Jerry—and experienced souls who act as mentors. Each new soul has a badge that grants passage to Earth once it has been completely filled in with interests and personality traits. Mistaken for a mentor (Bjorn T. Börgensson) who are matched with new souls (i.e. soul mates), Joe is assigned to 22, a stubborn soul who has been in the Great Before for thousands of years and hopes to avoid Earth. 22 has had mentors in the past including: Mother Theresa, Copernicus, Muhammad Ali, Maria Antoinette, Carl Jung, Abraham Lincoln, Archimedes. In the Hall of You, 22 and Joe see moments throughout his life with Joe feeling like his life was meaningless. Intrigued by Joe's desperation to return to a mundane life, 22 agrees to let Joe help find her "spark", which will complete her badge and enable Joe to use it to return home. Joe and 22 attempt to find 22’s spark in the Hall of Everything. After Joe's attempts to find 22 a passion prove futile, they visit "the Zone", a place that souls enter when their passions create a euphoric trance but becomes a trap for obsessed, lost souls. They meet Moonwind Stardancer, a sign twirler who regularly enters the Zone to rescue lost souls, who helps the duo locate Joe's comatose body in a hospital. Other members of Moonwind’s crew include: Windstar Dreamermoon, Dancerstar Windmoon, and Dreamerwind Dreamerdreamer.
Joe returns to Earth but accidentally brings 22 with him, and they awaken in the wrong bodies, with 22 inhabiting Joe's body and Joe inhabiting the body of a therapy cat, Mr. Mittens. They locate Moonwind, who agrees to meet at the jazz club that night to restore Joe to his body. In the meantime, 22 settles into Joe's body and starts to find enjoyment in trivial things like food, wind, and music (“Parting Ways”). She holds poignant conversations with Libba, Joe's student Connie, and Joe's barber Dez, deepening her understanding of life. Meanwhile, Terry, the being in charge of counting souls, discovers the count is off and arrives on Earth to find Joe.
As the day ends, Joe and 22 visit Moonwind to return Joe to his body, but 22, having finally discovered the joy of living, refuses to leave Joe's body and flees. As Joe chases her through a subway station, Terry traps them both and returns them to the Great Before. 22 discovers her badge is complete, but Joe insists it was the result of experiencing life in his body with his preferences and that she has no passions of her own. Angry, 22 throws the badge at him and retreats into the Zone. A Jerry informs Joe that a spark is not a soul's purpose in life, but Joe refuses to believe this and uses 22's badge to return to Earth.
The show at the jazz club is successful, but Joe is confused when it does not bring the fulfillment he was expecting. Looking at small objects that 22 collected while occupying his body, he recalls the moments they had enjoyed together and realizes these experiences gave 22 her spark (“Epiphany”). Joe plays piano and enters the Zone with the intent of returning 22's badge but discovers she has become a lost soul, obsessed with the idea that she has no purpose. Joe chases her down and shows her a sycamore seed she collected to remind her of her time on Earth. They realize that a spark is not a soul's purpose, but simply a desire to live. Joe's actions restore 22 to normal; he returns her badge and accompanies her for as long as he can on her journey down to Earth.
As Joe prepares to enter the Great Beyond, a Jerry stops him and offers him another chance at life in thanks for finally inspiring 22 to live. Joe returns to his body on Earth, committed to fully living life (“It’s All Right”).
TRIVIA
Visual Style
The You Seminar is designed with luminous lighting and things are edgeless, ethereal, out of this world, gassy. The Personality Pavilions were modeled after world fair structures to invoke the feeling of awe and grandeur but not necessarily be tied to one culture. Each pavilion is an abstract representation of the personality trait e.g. the Aloof Pavilion looks like a nose pointed up in the air.
Souls were inspired by cloud-like rainbows.
The counselors are based on wire sculptures and the shadows they create.
The terrain in the Astral Zone is based on kinetic sand but with a sparkle to them. The dunes are called astral taffy and are essentially bubbles with all of Earth’s energy underneath it.
To ensure that all of the performances are authentic, extensive reference footage was taken, using multiple camera angles, including close-ups of the musician’s hands playing piano keys and the saxophone, as well as the bass and drums.
Filmmakers visited several barbershops to capture the look and feel of this symbolic locale, taking away several observations—barbershops tend to be very narrow since space in New York is at a premium. They also observed one thing that distinguishes barbers from hair stylists: when they work, their clients face away from the mirror—toward the waiting customers, which encourages conversation and heightens that sense of community.
The filmmakers also visited a number of jazz clubs to design The Half Note, which is pretty true to scale of the typical size of a jazz club. They didn’t want to break the tradition and history and the richness of the clubs. The atmosphere is authentic, but contemporary, with portraits of Jazz Greats placed on the walls of the club.
Music
The jazz music was written by Jon Batiste who tried to give it a sense of accessibility for those who may not be jazz listeners or jazz fans (i.e. user-friendly jazz).
The soul world music was written by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor and has a new-age feel.
A 2021 Pixar short 22 vs Earth acts as a prequel before Soul.