Have you ever gotten lost within a passion? Whether it’s music, podcasting, writing, filmmaking, cooking or something else. Side note, I really hope that no one has ever lost themselves within cooking. That’s sometimes how fires are started and I unfortunately know this from experience. I’ve always believed that we are made to be passionate about something. Some of us find that passion right away, while others of us take our time to experiment with certain things until we find the one thing that fits. 

I feel like I’ve gone through the latter myself. When I was a teenager it was music. A decent number of my tattoos revolve around music. Then I graduated not just from high school, but also the garage band phase of my life. That’s not a nod to the Apple program; I never really moved out of the garage when it came to music. I maybe did a total of two dozen shows with those bands. I could probably count on one hand how many songs we actually recorded. As one passion died another was born in comics, though the underlying theme of my entire life my passion has always been film. It’s helped me through some of the toughest, darkest, and most depressing times in my life. 

There’s something magical about escaping into another place. Film is a multiverse of escapism. It has become a staple in my life, for my mental health and, since we’re still around the Christmas time - also a staple of gift giving. I can’t imagine my life without them. Likewise, Joe Gardener (Jamie Foxx) can’t imagine his life without jazz in Pixar’s brand new adventure, Soul. The animation juggernaut tells the story of jazz pianist (Foxx) who is mentoring a missing soul, 22 (Tina Fey), all while making the attempt to try and get back to his physical form on Earth and awaken himself from a coma. 

This movie took me into some fairly unexpected emotions. Pixar has been a staple for my viewing since I was a child. Granted I’ve skipped out on a few here and there, *cough* *cough* The Cars Trilogy & Ratatouille *cough* *cough*. Otherwise, Pixar is always capable of creating stories that balance humor, raw emotions and stunning animation. Soul is no different. Screenwriters Pete Docter, Mike Jones, and Kemp Powers walk a thin line with traditional family humor with black comedy. It’s a very interesting blend that catches you off guard in the best way possible. Likewise the writing, outside of comedy, is intelligent. Much like its approach to the jokes of the movie, Soul takes a deeper approach to its subject matter, living somewhere between philosophical and that familiar Pixar formula we’ve come to expect. Soul boldly brings the film to subjects like death, passions, individuality and more during its near two hour run time. Not only does this make for a good movie but a movie worthy of my deepest respects.

Foxx & Fey are marvelous in the movie. It’s weird to say that someone’s voice can carry a movie. Somehow, Soul is able to create a vulnerability through its voice talent which makes the film not only effective with its writing but also its voice cast. I know that we’ve seen a great deal of Pixar movies since their debut with 1995’s Toy Story, but this may be the most effective film we’ve seen from the company since that debut. One of the things that I’ve always come to love about Pixar is their daring animation styles. Soul once again pushes the envelope. It feels like a distant cousin of Inside Out, while also pushing the limits with its central setting that thrives on pencil doodles rather than 2 or 3 dimensional animation. 

Overall, Soul is the perfect package for the entire family. This is the kind of movie that has it all. A sense of humor that thrives on multiple levels, whether that is its somewhat black comedy, traditional family humor, or a mixture of the two. Its approach to humor is just one example of the layered complexity that the screenwriters were able to convey to viewers. Soul is a deep, sometimes philosophical, complex feature that is without a doubt one of the year’s best. 

RORSCHACH RATING:

Mental Health Moment: Soul asks the question “why am I here?” I feel like this is a question a great deal of us have struggled with. We jump from job to job, major to major, or home to home in attempt to find purpose. We all believe different things when it comes to purpose. For some of us, our purpose is synonymous with our identity. I’ll be honest, that’s a dangerous place to be. You’ll find that finding identity in purpose, or career, will actually create burnout, depression, or anxiety. From someone who has been doing reviews and podcasting for nearly five years, I’ve found that I need to set up time to pursue passions outside of these formats in effort to prevent such things. The things that you’re passionate about can greatly impact someone else’s life. Think about how much someone else’s art has saved someone else’s life. I’m still here in part because of someone else’s art. It’s one of the tattoos I spoke about earlier.

Learn to make the difference between who you are and what you do. It’ll help to keep that passion fresh and thriving within your life. You never know if that passion could save the life of someone else or your own life. Seriously, passions are terrific for mental health. Understanding the balance between passion and identity will help you in the long run.

If you or someone you know is reading this right now and struggling with suicide, depression, addiction, or self-harm - please reach out. Comment, message, or tweet at us. Go to victimsandvillains.net/hope for more resources. Call the suicide lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Text "HELP" to 741-741. There is hope & you DO have so much value and worth!

Victims and Villains is written (and produced) by Josh "Captain Nostalgia" Burkey and others, and edited by Cam Smith. Music by Mallory Johnson and others. Soul is property of Walt Disney Pictures & Pixar Animation. We do not own nor claim any rights. Soul is now streaming exclusively on Disney+.

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