Soul
2020 · Directed by Pete Docter
Original language: English
- animation
- family
- drama
- music
- fantasy
The story
Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
What it’s like
Soft, luminous animation with the warm amber of Manhattan evenings and the cool blue of the Half Note's stage, rendered in a painterly, almost impressionistic style where the city's grids dissolve into glowing shapes and the afterlife shimmers in pastel washes of teal and cream. Jazz drives the sound: loose piano, brushed drums, and muted trumpet that drift from cramped barbershops to a rooftop-sized sky, with quiet pockets of near-silence when the story turns inward. The vibe is nostalgic and bittersweet, gently funny and tender, the kind of film that suits a rainy Sunday, a late-night solo watch, or a comfort rewatch with a cup of tea. Its pacing is brisk and playful in the first act, then unhurried as it settles into reflection, following a restless, dissatisfied man slowly learning to look up from his ambitions and notice what's already around him, with a sardonic, uncertain young soul at his side. Intensity is very low: a brief mishap, some peril handled with light slapstick, no gore, no sexual content, and no real cruelty. It is for people who want something cozy and thoughtful, a story about purpose and presence that treats music and small everyday moments as the real point.
More films like Soul
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Souland we’ll explain which ones fit you.
