Discovering the Sole Purpose of Life: Review of Soul (2020)

Synopsis of Soul (2020)

Soul (2020) follows the musical life of Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a middle school music teacher, pianist, and jazz aficionado. His love for music, particularly jazz, was ignited when his Dad took him to a concert as a boy. It was love at first chord. All his actions since then were geared towards getting his big break as a musician.

Joe finally gets the break he has been dreaming about when one of his former students, Curly Lemont-Baker hooks him up for a gig with saxophone sensation, Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett). Unfortunately, things go south. Joe falls through a manhole in his excitement, is mortally wounded, and finds himself on the stairway to the Great Beyond.

Joe vehemently refuses to go into the light. In his frantic attempts to escape, Joe ends up in the Great Before. All attempts to go back into his earthly body through the earth portal in the Great Before prove abortive. In his many attempts to avoid going to the Great Beyond, Joe unintentionally finds himself mentoring 22 (Tina Fey), a little jaded soul that has no intention of living.