電影《靈魂急轉彎》影評：Life is all about living

I still had a fuzzy memory that I first saw the information about this film from a micro blogger. Then I thought to myself: come on, it must be somewhat of a cliche?. It was of no possibility for me to see it. Who knows? What a slap in my face.

This feature film, co-produced by Disney and Pixar, introduces Joe Gardner—a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before—a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22, who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions, among which the core one is 「What is it that makes you...YOU?」 [Mainly from the Britannica]

Yet not perfect, it is nuanced and layered. Seeing the film, as the scenes shifted, you could sense the subtle changes of the characters’ insides. They grow more real and spur you to introspect. Quoting from a review from IDMb, 「I can’t put into words how close to home this movie hit for me. Not to sound pretentious, but it’s more than a movie – it’s a life lesson on how to live. It’ll teach you that life isn’t about careers, goals, passions, or achievements. It’s about living, right here in this moment, exactly where you are.」

As this is my review, I am gonna share with you some feelings of mine. The first touching point is the girl Connie. She is a common student in Joe’s class. But unlike others, she truly relishes trombone. Actually at the very beginning of this film, she shows us her very interest in music. But she chickens away in front of her contemporaries. Later, perching herself on the edge of the floor with Joe (now 22’s soul in the body), though she cries to Joe that she wanna quit tromboning, she still asks Joe to see her performance one last time. Then, not only Joe but we audiences outside the screen are deeply infected by her enjoyable smile while she was playing the trombone. Bathed in warm sunshine, with gentle notes flowing around, it seems as if all elements are coordinated with one other at that moment. Finishing, without more encouraging words, Connie has already regained the spirits to carry on. Asking ourselves, how many times have we been Connie now and then in our lives? Very often we turn doubted towards our choices or even ourselves. However, mostly we are just intimidated by the questioning voices outside and mostly we just need one affirmed answer.

And the second thought-provoking point is positively 22, that soul. Her (assumed it is she) tag is 22, which suggests that she has already been here for an unimaginably long time. And even until the end of the film, she still cannot even get herself a name. How pathetic. This is, from my perspective, a blemish. From the lens of the entire film, 22 is undeniably the catalyst of the whole story. When Joe comes to the Great Before, she is his only way to home. Until later, after the mess, they complete each other little by little. During this, as we say, great adventure, Joe knows his mom, the barber, and to the very essence, the life. He starts to find pleasure outside of jazz, the tiny teeny happiness in life. What has 22 learned? She, after centuries of teaching from the great minds in human history, finally finds the reason to live on Earth. The smells and tastes of pizza, the sounds of people, the winds from thither to hither, the leaves fluttering to the hand, these ordinary but somewhat extraordinary experiences together help 22, as well as us, find the meaning of life.

Still, it is afterwards a fairy tale. The hackneyed happy ending that Joe eventually has one more chance to be back to earth is inevitable. Therefore I rate it 8.7.