Semi-OT: Soul, the movie

[Adan]

Unless you have young children and Disney+, you might have no reason to see this anytime soon. But it's a pretty cool flick I'd recommend to anyone, and it just happens to be about a jazz pianist. It's also a very strange head-trip of a movie, fabricating a fairly original cosmology that, though often awkward or corny, nevertheless manages to be thought-provoking.

 

This is not a movie you watch casually, at least not the first time. There's a lot of food for thought being thrown at you every minute. It's not all gourmet grey matter cuisine, but you can't really pick and choose. If you want to enjoy the good parts, you have to stay with it through the parts that seem strained. My wife let her attention stray too much in the first 10 minutes and, deciding there was no way to catch up, spent the rest of the movie texting friends. When, mid-movie, I commented "wow, this is very metaphysical," she kept her eyes on her phone and mumbled *yeah, that's Pixar for you."

 

Watching it with my kids, 7 and 4, on Christmas day, I couldn't put aside the thought that this is a kid's movie that is clearly way over the heads of most kids. Though the cosmology is, in my opinion, meant as metaphor, I worried that my kids my try to take it literally, and that I would have to explain to them that, for instance, there is no such thing as "the Great Before," at least not that we know of. What happened after it was over was not that, and was in fact pretty cool, as I heard my kid's bantering with each other about the meaning of life in their own terms. I interpret this little piece of data to suggest that the film succeeds at it's main goal of making young people think a little bit about the big questions.

 

"Semi" OT because while it focuses on a jazz pianist, the story is only incidentally about jazz. The main character could have been a painter, an actor, a cheese-maker . . . the not so subtle message of the movie, I think, was more about being passionate about something. Jazz, as a focal point for contemplating artistry and passion, jumps off the screen in a way that the acts of painting or cheese-making never could. But I found myself devoting so much of my brain trying to follow the philosophy of the movie, there was little left over to think about the music specifically. Enough to come away with the impression that the music (courtesy mostly of Jon Batiste, or so I've read) is wonderful. There is one big music scene I wouldn't want to spoil with specifics, except to say that what you expect to be a straight ahead jazz solo wanders off into something much more ethereal. It's a stunningly effective musical moment.

 

Another cool thing about the movie is how well, as an animated film, it evokes the feeling of being in New York City. The scenes alternate between what looks like lower Manhattan and a hypothetical other place. That the other place is about the most boring thing you could imagine just highlights the feeling of vibrancy in every City scene.

[Joe Muscara]

Ethan Iverson (captain of the Jazz Police, I hear ), says it's the best jazz film in a long time. I haven't subscribed to Disney+ yet but this might put me over.

[Mark Zeger]

Jon Batiste"s hands were filmed with a ridiculous number of motion capture cameras and his long fingers lent themselves well to animation. The MIDI note data was synced to the animation so the images of fingers playing notes was precise. Tia Fuller played sax, Linda May Han Oh bass, and I believe Roy Haynes played drums though Questlove voiced the drummer. Herbie Hancock and Terri Lyne Carrington consulted.

 

So yeah, they got the music right.

 

Tia Fuller interview about Soul

 

If you have a Verizon unlimited cell plan, Disney+ is free for a year. That"s how I subscribe but watch via Roku.

[MAJUSCULE]

I was very excited when it was announced, then somewhat disappointed when I heard an early review panning it. Seems the public is loving it, though. May see about a D+ free trial in the new year.

[Dave Bryce]

Saw it last night. Top marks. Absolutely wonderful film, IMO...and yes, the music is fabulous.

 

Being a piano player watching this movie is a definite bonus.

 

dB

[Stokely]

You don't need kids to like Pixar movies I count a few of them among my favorite movies of any genre or type, and I'm 53 (though I have, occasionally, acted in a manner not befitting my grizzled status....)

 

I haven't thought quite as highly as their recent movies, other than Inside Out (which I thought was fantastic). I'll definitely be checking this one out.

[Docbop]

Jon Batiste"s hands were filmed with a ridiculous number of motion capture cameras and his long fingers lent themselves well to animation. The MIDI note data was synced to the animation so the images of fingers playing notes was precise. Tia Fuller played sax, Linda May Han Oh bass, and I believe Roy Haynes played drums though Questlove voiced the drummer. Herbie Hancock and Terri Lyne Carrington consulted.

 

So yeah, they got the music right.

 

Tia Fuller interview about Soul

 

If you have a Verizon unlimited cell plan, Disney+ is free for a year. That"s how I subscribe but watch via Roku.

 

 

Dam now I really want to see this movie. I knew about Tia playing sax, but not the others and especially TLC and Herbie.

[MotiDave]

Lol, after a couple kids and almost a couple decades and too many Pixar"s to count, the incredible computerized work has zero remaining intrigue and then its simply better cartoons as far as I"m looking at.

 

I do intend to watch this one, my son (15) asked RPO watch it together. Maybe later today hmmm?

[MathOfInsects]

Adan, thanks for that perceptive and literate review.

 

I don't know, though. I enjoyed Inside Out for its real-world take on some thorny family issues, but in the end came to find it bleak and bombastic. And I really wanted to like Coco, but it just seemed kind of obtuse to me (and the kids). Stunning to look at of course. And now this one...it feels like it's going to be "Inside Out and Coco meet jazz." I was excited about it more in concept than I am in execution. But if the kids want to see it, we'll give it a try.

 

Side note: the writer/director's family is "one of us" as they say, mafia style. Dad's a music prof and sis is a professional musician. I think mom's a music teacher, but I suddenly can't remember. (We knew/know dad, mom, and sis.)

[Joe Muscara]

I'm listening to the soundtrack right now and I gotta say,

[Adan]

I have not seen Inside Out or Coco, so if Soul is just a variation on the same ol' Pixar shtick (as my wife seemed to think), I wouldn't know it. I did feel I was being bludgeoned with the cosmology part of it. And yet even if you ignore all that, the movie messages on another level of more simple mindfulness, enjoying every moment, making the most of your journey through life, etc. . . That message resonated with me pretty well.

 

The good news for this crowd is that even if all that other stuff doesn't appeal to you, you can enjoy it just on the jazz level.

[George88]

I loved this movie. Very trippy with wonderful music. My 3 y/o loved it too.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

I grew up with Pixar's first burst into the cinematic canon. I was five or six years old when "Toy Story" hit theaters, when a fully-CGI film was something new and exciting rather than the go-to, cheaper way to make an animated kids' movie. I've kept up intermittently over the years -- I came to some of their mid-period favorites, like "Up" and "Finding Nemo," kind of late, because I had aged out of automatically seeing Disney movies -- but their films I've seen recently have just proven that they're still the best in the business when it comes to character, story, animation, and message.

 

I loved both Inside Out and Coco, and this one was a total slam dunk for me. I loved the jazz element, obviously, but the synthesizer-driven "great beyond" music that scores the rest of the film, by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, is also gorgeous. I know this film was made prior to the pandemic, but my wife and I were caught off guard by how perfect it was for a time when the collective existential angst and despair has been so high. An instant favorite.

[ElmerJFudd]

Just finished it with my family. Very enjoyable. Heart touching on many levels. Thought provoking as well. Well done, Pixar.

[BbAltered]

I just saw it last night with the family. The sound-track in the first half is amazing and completely won me over: the sound-track seemed to be an essential character that both informed and propelled the story. But the second half seems to flag, and I thought the sound-track was not very effective: it went back to being something outside that was merely grafted onto the story. A lot of the second half seemed to be borrowed from Steve Martin's All Of Me. All in all, I recommend it as a nice family movie with a pretty good sound-track.

[Dr88s]

Jon Batiste"s hands were filmed with a ridiculous number of motion capture cameras and his long fingers lent themselves well to animation. The MIDI note data was synced to the animation so the images of fingers playing notes was precise.

 

Watching those opening sequences I could only marvel at the animation and wonder how they achieved the realistic animation of playing the correct notes and concluded they must have either mapped the animation to live action fingers or somehow used MIDI data.

 

Thank for bringing this up!

[Adan]

A lot of the second half seemed to be borrowed from Steve Martin's All Of Me. .

 

It's hard to be original. For instance, the storyline of dying but then stalling in some sort of purgatory and being given a second chance at life is cliché at this point. Yet it continues to be one of the most powerful psychological exercises anyone can do to see life through the lense of possibly imminent death. The irony is that it's not really a psychological experiment -- it's the truth. A moment of distraction and an open manhole cover could be anyone's undoing on any given day. In a movie like Soul, the power of cinema is enlisted to pierce the veil of falsity in which we live 99.9% of the time. I submit that if as the credits roll you feel a little more aware of the preciousness of life, then the movie was worth a few bucks and two hours of your time.

 

I vaguely remember Steve Martin's All of Me. I liked it. As I recall, it was about a lawyer who really wants to play music full time and finally gets up the courage to try it. It's a story about making a courageous choice. Joe, in Soul, doesn't really face that. For Joe it's more a matter of whether the world will recognize what he's dedicated his life to achieving. The "big choice" in the movie is much more placed on Joe's sidekick, "22."

[MathOfInsects]

I say this without having seen it, but: Pixar always treads that delicate balance between being "Disney" and being "art." Sometimes the "art" angle is inherent in the "Disney" angle--as in Toy Story and Wall-e, where the human element IS the action. Other times they have to find a way to graft the action onto the human element, or vice versa, as in Inside Out and Coco. If you're willing to go along with that grafting, you'll love the movies they do it on. They are beautiful and a fun ride. If you're not, those are the ones that probably work worst for you.

 

I did actually try to watch this last night based on the positive responses here, but couldn't remember my Disney + login, which Roku helpfully expires every so often, for reasons I'll never understand.

[BRW]

We watched this recently. Since "jazz movies" have been mostly meh, especially in terms of the aforementioned jazz, ("the best jazz movie in a long while" doesn't require much ), I had my reservations - but it had multiple 5-star reviews and supposedly consulted both Herbie and Terri Lyne Carrington on the jazz in question. Not a huge fan of Batiste, so that didn't matter to me.

 

Overall, I did like it. The animation is nice, as is to be expected, especially the "Great Before" with its vibrant colors. Some of the voices, like Questlove and BBC host Graham Norton were really easy to spot, but I didn't recognise Angela Bassett. Dorothea's voice sounded really familiar, but I couldn't place her.

 

There is one big music scene...a straight ahead jazz solo wanders off into something much more ethereal. It's a stunningly effective musical moment.

 

This is exactly the scene that kind of irked me I know it made sense for the scene, and he apologized for it, but do that "ethereal" semi-classical no-tempo doodling on a straight ahead jazz tune, and your ass is busted It also didn't make much sense for him to do that - an actual (even wannabe, or a student) jazz musician who knew his history would never do that (on an audition, no less) - and it felt like he would know, you could see him studying the masters (if only on vinyl and in clubs) over the years. But I digress.

 

I'm glad they showed some "actual jazz" during one of the gigs, though, you rarely see that. Let alone in an animated feature

[Adan]

 

There is one big music scene...a straight ahead jazz solo wanders off into something much more ethereal. It's a stunningly effective musical moment.

 

This is exactly the scene that kind of irked me I know it made sense for the scene, and he apologized for it, but do that "ethereal" semi-classical no-tempo doodling on a straight ahead jazz tune, and your ass is busted It also didn't make much sense for him to do that - an actual (even wannabe, or a student) jazz musician who knew his history would never do that (on an audition, no less) - and it felt like he would know, you could see him studying the masters (if only on vinyl and in clubs) over the years. But I digress.

 

:

 

Oh, absolutely. Lest my comment be misunderstood, I agree that any jazz musician should cringe at that scene. But if you were with me watching it with my young chilluns, you'd understand the effectiveness of it towards at least one intended audience. I suppose if I had been on the ball I would have said to my kids "never do that on an audition!" I was more worried they would think all the Pixar spiritual mumbo jumbo was the literal truth.

[RABid]

Watched it and enjoyed it. Not sure that I would consider it a children's movie. It is a bit out there. Not sure how I would classify it, which is a good thing.

[Brad Kaenel]

When you look at the whole Pixar portfolio, I think you can see at least two "camps". Pete Docter leads the high-concept camp: Monsters, Inc.; Up; Inside-Out; Soul. John Lasseter helmed the comedy camp: Toy Story, Bug's Life, Cars, etc. Of course, Brad Bird has his action niche: Incredibles, Ratatouille; Andrew Stanton does the love stories: Dory, WALL-E.

 

It takes *years* to make these films (check the "Production Babies" list in the credits!). For awhile I was good at guessing which genre would be next up in the rotation, but nowadays not so much.

 

I liked Soul -- but I just want more Buzz Lightyear, Mater, and Edna Mode...