Hello everyone, and welcome back to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
This is part two of my four- part annual partnership with St. John's United Methodist Church for their annual "Summer at the Movies" series.
For this installment, we will be looking at quite an interesting one: Pixar's splendid 2020 offering known as 'Soul.'
This movie is the story of Joe Gardner (Voice of Jamie Foxx), a fortysomething man living in New York City and working as a middle- school music teacher. He wants more out of life than that, though, and deeply believes he's meant to be a full- time, professional jazz musician, and he has the amazing piano skills to back it up. Nobody's ever really given him a chance at that, though.
One day, though, he finally gets that chance, as he lands a gig performing alongside an incredibly respected jazz musician named Dorothea Williams. Shortly after getting this news, however, he falls into a manhole (Even in moments of bliss over your dreams being fulfilled, you've still got to watch where you're going), which puts him into a coma and sends his soul off on a kind of conveyor belt to the "Great Beyond." He doesn't want to move on when he's so close to achieving his dream, however, and so he instead finds himself in the "Great Before," an area where young souls develop their personalities and prepare to come to Earth and start a life.
One soul Joe meets here, known simply as "22," has been in this area for thousands of years. In spite of countless mentors throughout history (Including some pretty well- known deceased public figures), she dislikes Earth and refuses to become a fully- developed soul and head down there. Joe figures that she could be his ticket back to Earth so his soul can get back in his body and wake him up in time for his gig.
A mix- up finds Joe and 22 on Earth, but not exactly in the way they'd hope. This leads to a struggle to set things right, some great revelations and both characters learning more about what it means to truly be alive.
'Soul' makes for another incredible creation of Pixar's. I think I'd compare it the most to 'Inside Out,' in that it takes a massively complex topic (The human subconscious for 'Inside Out,' elements of esotericism for 'Soul'), and yet presents it in a way that's easy for kids and others in the audience to understand. It's won a ton of awards, and it's easy to see why.
The visuals are great, both for the scenes in New York City and its various locales Joe lives in and interacts with, and for the "Great Before" and other such spiritual locations. So many colors and environments are presented, it's almost overwhelming.
Also, another plus to 'Soul' is, as you can probably guess for a movie in which the main character is an aspiring jazz musician, the musical score is flat- out gorgeous. There are loads of incredible pieces of jazz music (ranging from Joe just playing on his piano, to the scenes with Dorothea Williams's entire band playing), and also some more soft, simple compositions for the scenes in the various spiritual locations. It's a feast for both the eyes and the ears.
A small detail I liked about 'Soul' is a quick but quite touching little "Easter egg" they threw in: In 22's sort- of house/ base, we can see one wall is littered with name- tag stickers of 22's past mentors, none of whom were able to help her discover her purpose or seek to go down to Earth. There are some famous celebrities among those names, and others I'd never heard of. One that's seen pretty prominently is "Joe Ranft." This may not be a name any of you recognize, but he was one of the people who basically built Pixar animation in its early days. Joe Ranft was a major writer and story supervisor for most of their early films, co- directed one, and voiced a few characters for them (i.e. He was the voice actor for Heimlich the caterpillar in 'A Bug's Life' and Wheezy the squeaky toy penguin in 'Toy Story 2,' among other characters), before being tragically killed in a 2005 car accident. So, I thought including that little nod to him in 'Soul' was a very nice gesture.
Now, for the character run- down. It's not often that an animated kids' movie has a fortysomething man as its main character, yet Joe Gardner makes for a wonderful main protagonist, likable all throughout. He wants for his life to be worth something, and since jazz music is his passion, figures that succeeding in that field is the only way to achieve that. It's easy to root for him in all he does, with all the hard work and frustration he faces in pursuit of his dream. I found myself relating to him a lot, as I too still struggle at times with finding my own calling in this world. Jamie Foxx brings a ton of emotion to his voice, as well. It's clear how much he invested in his performance of this complicated character.
22 was a little annoying at first with her grumpy, confrontational attitude, but she grew on me a lot as the movie progressed and we got to see some real depth from her. She also had a lot of funny moments, usually involving her struggles with various aspects of life on Earth. Tina Fey's voice performance gave her a lot of charm and made her lines even funnier.
Another supporting character who I liked a lot was a guy named Moonwind (Voice of Graham Norton) a hippie mystic sign- twirler who helps out Joe a lot over the course of the movie. This guy is constantly funny and interesting to watch, you never want to miss a moment of him.
One final character in 'Soul' who deserves mention is Joe's mother, Libba, who runs a tailoring business and is NOT supportive of his pursuit of becoming a full- time musician. Admittedly, the "Closed- minded parent who attempts to discourage their offspring's lofty dreams"- type character is a trope that's used a lot in movies, but Libba makes it actually believable. She's not trying to be mean or ignorant, she just thinks that Joe would be a LOT better off instead becoming a full- time music teacher, as that would provide him with a lot more stability and financial security. It's an extremely understandable concern to have that you can easily see where she's coming from with, and it makes her and Joe finally reaching common ground on the matter and seeing eye to eye on things late in the film become all the more satisfying and heart- warming to watch.
Now, for the real theological meat of the matter.
While 'Soul''s portrayal of esoteric theory and views on things like the afterlife aren't exactly in line with Christian theology, I still think there are some solid Scriptural messages that can be taken from it.
In my devotional which Pastor Danny helped pass out for the screening at the church this evening, I bring up that arguably the main theme of 'Soul' is finding one's purpose in life. Joe starts by feeling that his purpose is simply to become a professional jazz musician, but eventually finds that is only one part of his life's actual purpose. I point out that God gives a great purpose and calling to each of us who follow Him through Jesus, and that He will eagerly guide us towards this if we let Him. As proof of this, I bring up Romans 8:28, which says that “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” The true purpose God has for us is to help spread His Word and build His Kingdom, and He gives each of us a unique calling to help pull this off.
I think another Scriptural message that can be taken from 'Soul' is to not be too consumed or overtaken by worldly issues and concerns. One area that Joe comes across on his journey is an area known as "The Zone," a place where living souls can briefly enter when the pursuit of their passions put them in a sort of euphoric trance. You know how, when someone like for instance an artist or athlete truly gives their all to what they are doing and does something incredible with it, they can be described as being "In the Zone"? Well, in this film, their souls briefly enter this particular area during those moments and seem to sort of float around in there for a bit before they return to reality.
There's a dark side to this, however: The ground of this area is crawling with "Lost souls," horrific beings that are the souls of people who let their anxieties and obsessions overtake them and disconnect them from life. An example of this that we see turns out to have been a hedge fund manager so obsessed with making a trade that his soul was briefly turned into one of those monsters, mindlessly chanting "Make a trade, make a trade" over and over while lumbering across the astral plane (Don't worry, he is freed from this by Moonwind and a couple fellow mystics).
Jesus Himself warns believers to avoid letting themselves be caught in this sad state. People who allow themselves to be overtaken by their obsessions and temporary stresses can easily be seen as embodying what Jesus said in the Parable of the Sower, found in Matthew 13:1-23, specifically embodying the seeds that fell among thorns: "The seed falling among thorns refers to someone who hears the Word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the Word, making it unfruitful." Becoming too caught up in petty worldly matters and concerns, letting them become single- minded obsessions, greatly hinders our witness to others as well as our own personal walks with God. It keeps us from focusing on important, eternal things because of how preoccupied our minds have become with comparatively minor, temporary things. Fortunately, just as the hedge fund manager in 'Soul' is freed from his lost state with help from Moonwind and restored to his old self, when we at times get too caught up in worldly concerns and obsessions, Jesus can free us from it and return us to the state we're supposed to be in, if we just ask Him.
There you have 'Soul,' a marvelous, fascinating film that can show us how to avoid pointless worldly distractions that ensnare us and truly find the purpose that God intended for each of our lives.
That sums up this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Come back next week when I'll be examining the next film in this series St. John's UMC is putting on. Until then, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!
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