Review of Cold Souls (2009) by Martha W — 30 Jan 2010
Intriguing! I didn't know anything about Cold Souls going in other than it stars Paul Giamatti and it has an awesome poster, so what's it about? Well, it was inspired by a dream that Woody Allen had where he finds out that his soul looks like a chickpea, so, as you may be able to guess, this is a surrealistic comedy.
It takes place in an alter-universe where science has discovered how to remove the actual soul from the body, because when you think about it, the soul can actually weigh you down. Not only is soul removal possible, but you can actually get someone else's soul placed inside of you and have them inhabit you.
When Paul Giamatti goes through this process and the Russians get involved, the same thing happens every time the Russians get involved: shit gets hairy. Now this isn't Paul Giamatti playing someone else, this is Paul Giamatti playing the actor Paul Giamatti, which, if you ask me, is an absolutely fantastic idea.
He is such a bulletproof talent, and he can bring vibrance to any role he plays, especially here, where he's playing himself. I do have to watch it again, though, because about an 1/8th of the movie is in Russian, and I didn't have subtitles.
It's such a weird movie, but I really liked it for its novelty and originality. It feels almost Lynchian, or better yet, more like something from Charlie Kaufman. I really got the same vibe that I got from Synecdoche, New York, except I liked this film as a whole much better.
It's a small, unique movie with grandiose ideas.
This review of Cold Souls (2009) was written by Martha W on 30 Jan 2010.
Cold Souls has generally received mixed reviews.
Was this review helpful?
