Cold Souls

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Cold Souls

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Cold Souls

Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Dina Korzun, Katheryn Winnick, Lauren Ambrose

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.

Id: 11042377

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Cold Souls Recent Reviews
  • 366weirdmovies
    November 14, 2009
    366weirdmovies
    Paul Giamatti (playing the role of actor Paul Giamatti) feels burdened by his soul, so he decides to store it temporarily for a time; later, when he discovers he can no longer act, he tries to get it back but finds it had disappeared. Thoughtful and original premise, laugh out l...( read more)oud funny at times, and Giamatti deserves an Oscar nom; just wish it had an ending.
  • her69eyes
    October 28, 2009
    her69eyes
    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.
  • flickfever
    September 7, 2009
    flickfever
    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.
  • DrZeek
    August 23, 2009
    DrZeek
    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.
  • loverlybird
    November 23, 2009
    loverlybird
    I'm sorry to say this movie was too abstract and cryptic for me to decipher. I should probably see it again in a few years, but until then, this was just boring...
  • entirelytoomuch
    November 18, 2009
    entirelytoomuch
    An existentialist BS dark comedy, but it was actually amusing, slightly poignant in some places, and had some likable characters. Watchable, if not amazing.
  • Nenebelle
    November 16, 2009
    Nenebelle
    Recommended by scottydgibbs.
  • perryshirley73
    November 16, 2009
    perryshirley73
    it ok i give 3 stars
  • scottydgibbs
    November 16, 2009
    scottydgibbs
    like in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind,we see a world where theres a company specialising in brain work, here taking your soul and storing it, paul giamatti plays himself who takes up procedure when a play hes doing isnt working, and from here goes on a journey, without hi...( read more)s soul, trying other souls and of course wanting soul back,but soul is stolen, giamatti is great here, playing up his self a bit, and on his status as not exactly a list, al pacino is the actor whos soul is wanted here,and many more actors after. if anything its not eternalsunshine in greatness down to direction, its not as inventive, but seems to borrow from kauffman, im not sure the sauce material, if its original or based on book, but do see influences, a enjoyable film throughout, especially for giamatti performance, check it out
  • cr2005t
    October 22, 2009
    cr2005t
    This I give this movie 5 starsl
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