What drives humans? Passion or Purpose? The new Pixar film tries to answer this question or is it? We, humans, are designed with flaws, we run towards building our lives and find meaning in it, inherently or on purpose. A Japanese concept called Ikigai is so famous right now which means “A Reason for Being”, I somehow feel the writers must have gotten inspired by this concept and decided to make a movie out of it. How profound?

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, and many more.
Crew: Peter Doctor (Writer, Director), Mike Jones (Writer), Kemp Powers (Writer), Trent Reznor (Music), Atticus Ross (Music), Jon Batiste (Music)

Joe Gardner (Jaime Foxx), a High-School Music teacher is struck between odd jobs and waiting for his big moment, and when he finally gets it something uneventful happens. He then chances upon Souls and with Pixar’s usual turns and turbulence we finish the movie with so much on our heads contempt and to think about.

Soul, on the surface, is a fantastic movie. It has so much heart and tackles a very sensitive topic. It talks about a man who has faced rejection all his life, society dictates him to take a safer route that is a permanent job and a settled life but he wants more. For him, music is everything or so he thinks.

The movie is so personal to me because it teaches me not bend to what society dictates but keep trying until you find your purpose until you are sure that your passion has a meaning, keep trying until you feel whole, keep trying until you are happy to live the life to its fullest, keep trying until you enjoy every minute of it.

I also loved the Mentor angle which dealt neatly in the movie. Joe acts as a Mentor to 22 (Tina Fey) and as a good mentor, he helps 22 find her purpose. We need not necessarily find mentors outside but even at our homes, Our parents need not be just parents but can be mentors. They should help us find our passion, our meaning in life and when we find it we should be left to fight with it. I strongly believe until and unless we fall and learn we don’t become better humans. Parents can’t protect us every time, when it is time they should let go. Parents should be Mentors who guide us through this world.

I really felt contempt watching this movie, it came as a breath of hope to my diminishing self-confidence. I’ve been trying to find jobs and the rejections made me insecure about myself, I’ve been questioning my ability, I still am. How much ever someone tries, the motivation must come from within to boost one’s confidence than it coming from elsewhere. But in this case, the movie acted as that small push that I needed to boost my self-confidence to move forward. Hence, this movie felt so personal to me. I hope you’ll enjoy this movie as much as I did.

Happy Watching 😎