Why I Love the Movie Soul (2020) | Life’s Unpredictability and Purpose
It is 2 am. What’s your spark?
Unlike the film, I don’t live in New York. I live in Singapore. But similarly, both are bustling cities filled with dreamers pursuing fulfillment, chasing the spark.
Life’s Unpredictability
One of my favorite scenes in this movie is when Joe Garner “died” suddenly after he got his opportunity. This just goes to show how unpredictable life can get.
“I’m not dying today, not when my life just started!” decides Joe
This is a pretty insightful quote and a good representation of life. One moment you may be feeling like you are on top of the world and the next you may be at your rock bottom. There are so many factors, variables that are out of our control. Take for example the Covid-19 Pandemic. I am sure that many of our life plans were thwarted by it. And life’s unpredictability really emphasizes us to hope for the best and expect the worse. Most importantly,
make the best of your present. That is the one thing you can control.
Make sure that you don’t live life with regrets. Make sure that you don’t just start life when you are in your mid-life like Joe Garner. Enjoy the present.
Regular Old Living
One of the most impactful scenes which I loved dearly was when Joe Garner got inspired by the regularity and mundanity of life. When the movie played flashbacks of him enjoying the moments of his ordinary life: him looking at the sky, watching the sunset on the moving train, enjoying that comfort food in that cozy restaurant on a rainy day. We all had those moments. Those seemingly insignificant yet intimate moments give us a gentle smile. Those moments where we go
Life’s good
It may not feel as exhilarating as compared to when we get a promotion or when the business you spent years building takes off. However, it is comforting and soothes the soul. And this really highlights the fact that memorable moments don’t just have to be big accomplishments. Instead, it may be moments that are mundane and seemingly boring. And the amazing thing is that these extraordinary moments are from our everyday lives.
Instead of checking on Instagram during the commute back home, put down the phone, look out of the window, close your eyes gently and take a deep breath. Remind yourself that it is great to be alive.
What defines a successful life?
I still vividly remembered the scene when Joe asked Dorothea: “What happens next?” after performing spectacularly at the Jazz Club. Dorothea tells him: “We come back tomorrow night, and do it all again.” And Joe said:
“I thought I’d feel differently.”
Joe has been dreaming his whole life of an opportunity like this. An opportunity to prove to the world and himself his talents. An opportunity for him to fulfill his “dream”. He, like many of us, expects something different when we managed to finally seize that opportunity. Perhaps we were expecting life to suddenly get much better and different. But it doesn’t. Getting that noble prize or that grammy sure feels great, but I doubt it can provide prolonged satisfaction or fulfillment.
And this questions what defines a successful life. Are we simply defined by our career accomplishments? An executive role. An international singer. A YouTuber. Have we lived life successful if we managed to have a successful career? Personally, I don’t think so. I believe
we are not the work we do but more.
To attain that prolonged satisfaction or fulfillment, I think what we need is to enjoy every moment in life.
To find satisfaction in the moments and not the goal.
Enjoy the grind, enjoy it with your loved ones and help others to move closer to their dreams as well. Enjoy the process and the present. Maybe that is how you live a successful life.
How small we are compared to the magnitude of life
Towards the end of the film, there was a scene where the movie started to zoom out of Joe’s life, out of New York, out of Earth, and into the universe. This transition simply shows how small we are and how big the world is. Our tiny scale reminds us to not be too affected by our momentary struggles. It is small in terms of scale.
These are the reasons why I love the movie Soul (2020). There are so many great scenes that struck the right chord. It is simply just heartwarming and insightful.
