Soul - Synergy
Thoughts On: Soul (2020)
A passionate music teacher on the brink of achieving his dreams dies abruptly.
Pixar still have form. I grew a little disinterested in them after Inside Out; The Good Dinosaur is ok; Finding Dory unmemorable; Cars 3 a bit unnecessary; Coco was all right; I could do without Toy Story 4; and Onward was not that interesting to me. Soul reignites the spark of imaginative world building and some of the human intensity that Inside Out captured nearly 10 years ago now. Pixar don't make bad movies, but they haven't felt innovative and magical of late, and it seems to have put them on ropes critically and in the box office with their reliance on franchises signalling a disappointing lull in the studio's creative capacities. What they have always managed to do when in their best form is push powerful familial sentimentality through inspiring world-building. Soul is understated (I cannot comment on exactly how re-watchable it is yet) but reaches back toward what the studio do best with balance and poise, their efforts since Inside Out doing ok with either the world building or meaning-making, but not really creating proper synergy.
Soul does really well to present another concept of the afterlife, a scientifically mystic universe tethered to a surprisingly real and relatable world of a lost adult. Without requiring the direct presence of children, it manifests a youthful vision of life and self-direction to speak on purpose. The maturity with which this is approached is in balance with the adolescent tone of the narrative, nicely positioning it in the familial space. The uniqueness with which the narrative engages the notion of purpose is unexpectedly nebulous while retaining punctum. We are told that purpose is secondary to inspiration; purpose merely an enaction of the true source of living: the engagement of that which opens your senses to believe in such a thing as reason, direction and purpose. This engagement is inspiration, is to live; you could call in jazzing. It is inspiration one wants to therefore become obsessed and entrapped by: not their purpose. Purposing is an act and a means of doing, but inspiration is being.
For the way in which these sentiments are brought to life, I really enjoyed Soul, and so may have been teased enough to keep up with Pixar studios again.
