Review of Cold Souls (2009) by Conor M — 07 Dec 2009

A darkly funny, delightfully weird feature debut from director Sophie Barthes, Cold Souls is not your average comedy. Paul Giamatti plays a sad-sack actor named Paul Giamatti, who is struggling with his role as the title character in a Broadway production of Uncle Vanya.

He reads about a new service of soul extraction founded by Dr. Flintstein (a wonderfully crazy David Stratharin), which promises to remove and store a person's soul, making them feel lighter. Paul decides to undergo the procedure, and soon realizes his new soulless self isn't right for the part either.

What follows is a weird and loopy plot in which Giamatti tries to get his soul back, but finds that it has been implanted in the body of a Russian soap actress (Giamatti's reaction to this is priceless).

Sound confusing? It's definitely not a by the numbers kind of story, and offers some interesting thoughts on the nature of a person's soul and how it is connected to their identity. Fans of stuff like Transylmania will likely steer clear of this kind of thought-provoking stuff, but anybody looking for a unique film experience shouldn't pass it up.