Exposition: Soul

DISNEY

AND

PIXAR’S Soul

A new film from Pixar Animation Studios is always a cause for celebration but their new film, Soul, comes from one of Pixar’s original and most successful filmmakers. Pete Docter, now Chief Creative Officer for the company, writes and directs his first film since the critical and commercial hit Inside Out (2015), which successfully managed to deal with major existential issues in a way that the entire family could enjoy. Where Inside Out looked at the creation of human emotions and the reasons why we feel a particular way, Soul examines what it is that makes you…YOU and why you are born with certain lifelong passions and inspirations. As ever, Pixar has crafted a universal narrative that doesn’t speak down to younger audiences, ensuring that it’s always the story that drives the film and has created a world that is thought provoking and life affirming as much as it is funny and exciting. >>

At the heart of this is the fact that Pixar does their homework thoroughly and surrounds themselves with authentic voices; in this case as the story centres itself around a Jazz musician, Pixar has brought in Herbie Hancock, Jon Batiste and other greats from the world of Black improvisational music including Jamie Foxx, Daveed Diggs and Questlove to provide their own experiences to the team. Co-director and screenwriter Kemp Powers is an inspired choice to have been brought aboard creatively and is further evidence that people from outside the studio who work on the films can be an invaluable ingredient overall. In a nutshell, Jamie Foxx plays Joe Gardner, a band teacher who lives to make music. Just as his professional career is about to take off, he finds himself taking an unexpected journey of self-discovery to The Great Before, an incredible world where new souls are born and where they discover their interests and passions before they travel to earth. Soul is set in both the cosmic realm and in a stunningly realised New York City, and it is this ability to visualise an environment that we could only ever dream of alongside another that is warmly familiar that is one of the film’s most staggering accomplishments. This is a film that takes a refreshing look at identity and self-discovery and ensures a thoughtful and respectful approach to inclusion and representation. This is a world where the ordinary can be extraordinary.

Soul and the 2nd S.O.U.L. (Screening Our Unseen Lives) Film Festival are the perfect fit in more ways than just their name; this is a festival that provides a voice for Black communities and Black talent and Soul is the perfect embodiment of this aspiration and is also a celebration of the work and stories of an inclusive team of great creative minds. Its blend of state of the art animation techniques, refined creativity and storytelling plus a voice cast that also includes Tina Fey, Phylicia Rashad and Angela Bassett makes Soul the perfect film for your heart, body and soul. Justin Johnson

Disney and Pixar’s Soul is released in UK

cinemas soon. n