Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Dina Korzun

Paul Giamatti plays an actor named… Paul Giamatti. Stumbling upon an article in The New Yorker about a high-tech company that extracts, deep-freezes and stores people’s souls, Paul very well might hav...( read more  read more... )e found the key to happiness for which he’s been searching. But, complications arise when he is the unfortunate victim of "soul-trafficking." Giamatti’s journey takes him all the way to Russia in hopes of retrieving his stolen soul from an ambitious but talentless soap-opera actress.

Flixster Users

54% liked it

723 ratings

Critics

76% liked it

79 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Sophie Barthes

Release Date: August 7, 2009

Invite friends to see

Stats: 270 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Your Rating



clear rating

Flixster Reviews (270)


  • October 28, 2009
    The premise of "Cold Souls" is not subtle: it's a movie about soul-searching in the most literal sense. The obvious comparison is to say that Sophie Barthes is, in her feature-length debut, echoing Charlie Kaufman - and like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", the script ins...( read more)ists that souls, or relationships, have highs and lows that should be embraced equally. Although our darkest episodes may burden us, each moment is an integral part of our greater whole.

    Nobody can play a neurotic sad sack like Paul Giamatti, which is the first reason that he would be an apt fit for the lead in "Cold Souls". The second reason is that the character in the film is an actor named Paul Giamatti. His latest project is a role in a stage production of Chekov's "Uncle Vanya", however he finds himself unable to separate from his character after rehearsal. One day, he's reading the New Yorker when he comes across an advertisement: "is your soul weighing you down?"

    Giamatti learns of the soul storage service of Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn), a medical procedure that involves the extraction of one's soul to be stored in a keep-safe freezer. He agrees to have his soul removed, which happens to resemble a chickpea, but then finds himself feeling hollow. Distressed, he checks out the soul of a Russian poet to aid him in his acting. That's not doing it either. It's time to get his own soul back. But what's this? It's missing?

    With souls now a hot commodity, they've become a part of a booming underground market in Russia. Nina (Dina Korzun) is a soul mule, a woman who ventures to America, is implanted with a soul, and has it extracted back home in St. Petersburg to be sold on the black market. When a soap opera star (Katheryn Winnick) requests the soul of an American actor like Al Pacino, she unknowingly winds up with the soul of, you guessed it, Paul Giamatti.

    The concept of soul extraction is cute, but it's not exactly the sort of idea that you can extend into a motion picture. Where Barthes succeeds, however, is in introducing the soul trafficking world. It's an odd turn for the story to take, but one that is completely plausible and is successful in keeping this winning concept interesting throughout. Korzun is very good, and Winnick gives one of the film's most blatantly funny performances.

    The film is not so much a comedy of the absurd as it is an existential science fiction. Not everything in it quite adds up, and the concept is so heavy-handed that it can be a bit distracting, but "Cold Souls" is a unique debut from a promising new talent in Sophie Barthes.
  • September 7, 2009
    Cold Souls is a very polarizing picture. It definitely will not be for everybody and that should go without saying about most movies. The film starts off with an interesting premise: human souls can be removed from the body and stored away or sold/exchanged for other, better soul...( read more)s. The only problem is that this "premise" ends up being more of a gimmick. A trick to get you to watch, but fails to deliver its promise of quirkiness, charm or even intelligence.

    Once the soul is extracted, the people don't seem to display any different characteristics than before. Their dreams become clouded with phantom memories of their new souls' previous owner. Paul Giamatti is in Uncle Vanya. You can store your soul in New Jersey and avoid sales tax. Russia is somehow (or typically) involved in black market shenanigans. The movie essentially throws too much out at the audience and never really forms itself into a cohesive, jointed motion picture. It strives to be something between Woody Allen's Sleeper and Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but fails miserably at it. It tries to hide under the mask of randomness for randomness' sake, but it all feels very calculated.

    Basically, there are funny moments; poignant situations; philosophical ruminations; religious paradigms; paradoxical questions of ethics and much, much more. But when it comes right down to it, you don't know where to focus your attention and you don't know how to feel about the characters because you don't know what kind of film you're watching. Are you supposed to be laughing? Crying? Feeling sorry? Feeling hungry?

    The movie definitely has redeeming qualities--however few they may be. Paul Giamatti is a great actor and he does his best with a character in a movie that he probably didn't know was going to end up feeling so cold. His performance is as not nearly as multi-faceted as the film itself; but it is much more interesting than the film itself. If you're a fan of Mr.Giamatti (who plays himself in the film, by the way) then see the movie. If not, then don't.

    You won't miss out on much.
  • August 23, 2009
    Dr. Flinstein: Believe me, when you get rid of the soul, everything makes so much more sense.

    A very weird and deep comedy starring Paul Giamatti as himself. This film feels very much like a story from the mind of Charlie Kaufman, but its not. This is an original story with some...( read more) obvious influences. Its funny, clever, and has a few elements of greatness that elevate it a bit more.

    Paul Giamatti is trying to get ready for a play, but is having trouble separating himself from his characters as an actor. To solve this problem, Paul decides to involve himself in a high tech company that he read about in the New Yorker. This company practices the extraction of the soul from the body. Headed by Dr. Flinstein, played hilariously droll by David Strathairn, the company literally removes the soul from the body and places it in cold storage.

    Paul goes through with the procedure and becomes somewhat different from his more neurotic persona he was previously dealing with at first. But soon, Paul must deal with how different he is from before and decides to have a different soul placed inside him, to help him with his acting and keep him more balanced.

    Eventually, however, Paul is overcome with feelings about having a different soul in his body and wants to have his own soul back. It is at this point the film converges Paul's story with another subplot involving soul trafficking to Russia, as Paul discovers that his soul is missing.

    Dr. Flinstein: This has never happened before. We probably shipped it to our New Jersey where house.
    Paul: Oh, god...

    The story involving Paul is very good. Its clever, its funny, and it made me very curious as to where it would take me. The other story involving a soul trafficker is less engrossing at first, but once the film converged both story lines, I became much more interested.

    The comedy in this movie is somewhat subdued, but when the film starts to deal with what these people are seeing with these different souls, the movie did become even more interesting. There is a scene late in the film involving Paul's reaction to a certain event that was just beautiful.

    Speaking of Paul, Giamatti is great here. He's playing an exaggerated version of himself as this neurotic guy, probably heading into a midlife crisis who stumbles across this company. Everything about his adventures involving this soul removal process is well handled.

    This is an obscure little title that few will come across, but its well done and enjoyable.

    Oleg: We thought we were getting Al Pacino's soul.
    Paul: Well, I'm very sorry things didn't work out with...Al Pacino.
  • October 22, 2009
    This I give this movie 5 starsl
  • October 19, 2009
    This I give this movie 5 starsl
  • October 15, 2009
    In this sci-fi film, a person can remove his soul from his body so that he doesn't have to worry about anything anymore. Paul Giamatti playing himself decides to try it out so he can bare working on the play Uncle Vanya.
    Odds are if you're watching this you'll be comparing it to...( read more) 'Being John Malkovich.' Paul Giamatti does a great job acting in this one and the premise is interesting for about forty minutes and then they don't do anything with it. The second half of the movie where Giamatti is trying to find his soul that's been sold on the black market in Russia was dull to watch and it felt like the director didn't know what to focus on.
    Anyway, Giamatti does a good job acting and there is some quirky humor that some people will find funny. A good but flawed movie.
  • October 2, 2009
    im in msn merssedes_2@hotmail.com
  • September 24, 2009
    Will cause comparisons to Being John Malkovich, that is not a bad thing though. Paul Giamatti takes on the challenge of being a parody of himself and is able to prod and pick at who he is not just in terms of Hollywood social standing but himself as a person. The film goes so muc...( read more)h more into the temperatures of the Motherland and throws ambiguity left and right as does the lead of the soul extraction business.
    Another entry into the evolution of sci-fi in film as something more philosophical (and leading my reviews to become more pretentious, yay).
    This movie is sweet and filled with curiosity or maybe it's knowledge? I guess we'll never know.
  • September 9, 2009
    Kind of like being John Malkovich...but a bit funnier..
  • August 25, 2009
    kokomansion winner Bolanle

Critic Reviews


August 27, 2009
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Peppered with ingenious twists of imagination, Cold Souls walks a tightrope between intellectual slapstick and edgy social commentary. full review

August 20, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

[Director] Barthes takes her notion and runs with it, and Giamatti and Strathairn follow fearlessly. The movie is rather evocative about the way we govern ourselves from the inside out. full review

August 8, 2009
Kurt Loder, MTV

Director Barthes, who also wrote the script, has an engagingly bent sensibility -- and as we see in a subplot involving a dark dream set in an orphanage, a lot of soul, too. full review

August 7, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

Cold Souls works precisely because its ambitions are somewhat mellow; this isn't a relentlessly high-strung picture. full review

August 6, 2009
Edward Havens, FilmJerk.com

The easiest, and laziest, way to describe the new movie "Cold Souls" is to compare it to "Being John Malkovich." full review

August 6, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The film is superbly shot by Andrij Parekh and edited by Andrew Mondshein, but it's the hilarious and heartbreaking Giamatti who provides it with, well, soul. full review

August 6, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

The low-key satire would have benefited from more of a back story to Giamatti's character and a clearer sense of his relationship with his wife. But what we do get is compelling in the way of an indel... full review

August 6, 2009
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

The more elaborate the plot becomes, the sillier it gets. full review

August 3, 2009
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

This is a comedy, not a philosophy lesson, and thus richer in bafflement than in understanding. full review

March 27, 2009
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

Cold Souls is a skillfully shot, well-acted, thoroughly unconvincing, and unaffecting put-on. full review

View more Cold Souls reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Cold Souls" !

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Official Trailer

More Like This


Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Being John Malkovich
    Being John Malkovich (0%)

Theater Showtimes & TV Listings


Movie Quizzes


No quizzes for Cold Souls. Want to create one?

Most Popular Skin


No skins yet. Interested in creating one?