Soulful films take you on a journey where you contemplate and introspect about your own life. If you loved watching Past Lives or Three of Us, this list is for you!
More often than not, we derive our pleasures of spending a good time with a film or binge-watching by giving into the throes of fast-paced, action-oriented, or feel-good content. But every once in a while, we get to watch something that ends up taking us on a journey of self-introspection and realizations. These mood pieces are intricately and sensitively built to tug at our souls and hence, they are called soulful films! They aren't just narratives that leave us with a good feeling or a certain emotion by the end of it. In fact, you are left with deep thoughts after it about yourself and life, making them the most sought-after teacher of life because they never preach!
In the past, we have seen many films like Dear Zindagi, Piku,Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, or even not-that-old Cha Cha Real Smooth, The Lost Daughter, and so many more. While these films are always there to give us that dose or make us feel something beyond explanation, we also have a bunch of new ones that do the same job!
Here are some recent ones that you can explore in this genre
Foe - Amazon Prime Video
AI is already taking over in the present day. How will it impact all of us in the future? One can only imagine! But this love story leaves you with a haunting truth about what future relationships could look like. Imagine falling in love with the AI consciousness of the person you love. A version of them that is even lost in their real existing selves. This film's intimate and intricate portrayal of love between two people begs to ask that if given a choice to have a created version of your loved one that you really want, would you want to choose the real person?
Mast Mein Rehne Ka - Amazon Prime Video
Loneliness doesn't come knocking on the door looking at your age or class! A rich person within a huge crowd could be as lost as someone poor standing alone. Hence, this film asks you to live life to its fullest without bothering about anything else. Act like a child in your old age, put in your hard work, and have patience. Most importantly, a great company can be found in the strangest way; this is life; it has its way of untangling the mess it has created. What really matters is your choice!
Flora and the Son - Apple TV+
Long-distance relationships are not only hard, but they are the cause of a lot of break-ups. But what if you fell in love with someone over video calls, especially from Ireland to America? A single mother with a son who has a genius mind for music and a knack for getting into trouble, finds herself opting for guitar classes online and ends up falling for the person who not only helps her reconnect with her son but makes her find her music too. After all, to believe in something we only need one exception, the rule, right? This film is that!
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan - Netflix
The digital generation knows all about their problems but ironically tries to find a solution through social media that is the root cause of those problems. But no film about this generation has been as apt as this one. It doesn't look down upon the generation and mirror their insecurities, which is the reason why they reach out to social media. It shows you their issues with commitment, trauma of the past, the hunger for attention from a partner, professionally, or from people online.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Netflix
Belongingness is a basic human need to which faith offers some respite, but what if that belief becomes binding? Looking at anything from the lens of childhood makes it more palatable, less controversial, and more hard-hitting. This is exactly what this film does when a young, coming-of-age girl, has questions not only about her changing body, but also about God, and religion while trying to find where she fits! We all need to do this innocent exploration into religion and faith time and again.
Past Lives - Lionsgate Play
Reincarnation or In Yun? This concept of knowing people you have met in this life from a past life, in theory, is magical, but in practicality, it becomes about belief. But when it is told through a journey of two people with a complete love story in its incompleteness, you want to believe that maybe they'll end up together in the next life or previous life. It's like finding hope in 'in another universe, I would love to do laundry with you.'
Three of Us - Netflix
This human story takes you back to the lanes of your childhood memory. Here, dementia, a disease about forgetting, becomes a catalyst for a woman to go back to old times to learn the art of letting go. There is no way that you don't take a journey with this film into your old memories of school days, an old flame, or your old self, one that you left behind a long time ago. After all, meeting your lost self is all one needs to remember every once in a while!
Fingernails - Apple TV+
Imagine a compatibility test to find your true soulmate, which is done by taking out one of yours and your partner's fingernails. And it assures you that the person you are with is the love of your life. Does it make life simpler? Hell no! This sci-fi futuristic film explores whether technology makes finding true love any simpler and leaves you with a horrific reality check about how it further complicates things. Because sometimes '36 gun milne ke baad shaddiyan nhi chalti', so what could a fingernail compatibility test do when you fall for someone who is not your soulmate?
Hi Nanna - Netflix
What is more heartbreaking, falling in love with someone who doesn't want to be a parent or, having a child only to find out that they're not going to live long? Reminding you of The Vow, this film is about a woman's selective memory loss after an accident whose body remembers. It's about love transcending the bounds of what the mind can remember. An epic love story between a daughter, her father, and her mother, this one is a bit dramatic though.
Good Grief - Netflix
Losing the love of your life with whom you are irrevocably in love can never be easy. But finding out that they had kept secrets from you like they have a boyfriend and a place in Paris, can make it ten times more difficult because it means being mad at a person whom you desperately miss. But this film is more about finding oneself while learning to deal with forgiving them as you grieve their loss. It is about reaching the truth of what it means to love someone.
Which one are you most inclined towards watching first? Tell us in the comments below!
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