CommentsXp Best movie ever!

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

spelvini Paul Giamatti as the 21stCentury Woody Allen simulacrum, turns in a typical performance as himself in this intriguing and inventive story about the metaphysical idea exploring whether we have that thing called a soul and whether or not it has any function in our day-to-day activities as we go through our petty lives.In rehearsal with Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya in New York, Paul Giamatti (Paul Giamatti) becomes agitated as he identifies more and more with the character in the play he is performing in. Late one night after a talk with his agent Paul sees a story in the New Yorker about Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn) who has developed a way to extract troublesome souls from people and store them for safe-keeping. Paul goes to the doctor and has his soul extracted and the result is amazing, unburdening the actor from all the angst he had as a result of his career and in much of his banal social life with wife and friends. But when Paul needs his soul back he discovers that a Russian black market operative named Nina (Dina Korzun) is transporting souls to the United States and that she has stolen Paul's soul and sold it to a Soap Opera actress in Russia. Paul goes to Russia to retrieve his soul but finds that the tough business of soul marketing may be more than he gambled for.Writer-director Sophie Barthes has fashioned a highly original narrative, very much like Being John Malkavich, but moving in a far more serious way to a somber downbeat ending. With sci-fi contraptions that extract souls from people to the down-to-Earth character that live a life of criminal soul-trafficking, and mafia-like bosses, the movie woks to make us believe that human souls can be physically stored, and moreover that many of them resemble pieces of fruit and vegetable, Paul's own soul looks like a Chick Pea, while another character's soul looks like a dried up grape. It's all so droll and we laugh, but are transported into a world governed by human emotions.The acting is particularly good in the movie as every actor plays well intention and basic goals. We believe that the fear Paul is feeling is real and that the threatening nature of the mafia boss in Russia as Michael Aronov confronts Paul as he requests his soul back. Giamatti plays the role straight milking the best of the ironic tone by allowing his character to react normally to the zany situations around him.The only down-side to the flick is putting the story into perspective. The irony may be lost on non-artiste types who may not know who Paul Giamatti is and his reputation as an actor. At one point when the soul merchants are discussing getting a really good soul for a cheesy soap-opera actress to use, they plan to get Al Pacino's, upon which Paul Giamatti responds with a derisive condemnation. This flick is definitely for artists, and the cold final scene may not sit well as a commentary on a chosen profession.

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) Sometime when life is feeling a bit mundane and a bit slow, all we need is a good old existential comedy to liven things up a bit. Am I right? Well, right or not, if you're looking for your fix of existential laughs then Cold Souls is the place to look. Paul Giamatti stars as himself, a down on his luck actor who is terribly stressed about an upcoming stage performance. To try and get some answers to his life he lets a mysterious company extract his soul and store it for him. It's a melancholy dramady with a creative sci-fi twist. It's a very bizarre film but of a high quality full of clever witticism. The closest thing I can relate it to is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film where the sci-fi element of memory erasing is implanted in a sincere real world drama. And while Cold Souls doesn't have the groundbreaking beauty of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it is a very enjoyable film.Cold Souls has that very dry sense of humor that I've always loved. It pretends to take itself seriously, essentially mocking itself at points, which is a riot to watch. Paul Giamatti does an excellent job playing himself, as ironic and strange as that is. He brings out all the subtle humor of the film which, when picked up on, is laugh out loud hilarious. At the same time Giamatti is also able to play the serious side of the film very nicely. The wacky situations he gets himself into throughout the film are plenty of fun, but Cold Souls doesn't forget about its more sincere side. It is, in a way, a mid-life crisis film in the way that it portrays its main character reflecting heavily on himself and his life. Thus Cold Souls fits perfectly into the subgenre of existential comedy. We'll just have to assume that that is a subgenre. Okay? For the most part Cold Souls is a film that holds together nicely but it does grow a bit absurd towards the middle. The plot sort of gets out of control at the halfway mark and it also slows down considerably, making less and less plausible sense as more characters are introduced. It maintains its melancholy atmosphere nicely but the plot itself gets thin and silly. Thankfully it brings it back together by the end, wrapping up the film with an open yet also cathartic ending.I really have to give it props for being able to bring itself back to one piece after it began to fall apart in the final act. My rhetoric is probably too critical as Cold Souls really is a good film from start to finish. It isn't perfect and I look back on it as a very unique, very nutty film rather than an existential dramatic art piece. Definitely see Cold Souls as it is strange and its plenty creative. It's the kind of film that doesn't come around too often, and it provides a nice break from the mundane and repetitive nature of your average cinematic fare.

yak-yak I gave the movie 9 and I stand behind that. The classic Giamatti drama, wit and humour are not lacking here and there are foreign-speaking parts which are blissfully uncluttered. The viewer has to be forgiving of practical details relating to the non-local scenes because getting bogged down in the reality of what would likely have really happened would make the movie darker than desired and be inconsistent with the unreal aspect of the plot. In essence, a little flexibility on the practical nature of things is rewarded with a rich experience. The only real downside is the undeveloped character played by Emily Watson. Even a few more good lines could have given us a full character. If her character was supposed to be an equal presence then the movie would get a lower grade, but as a supporting role it was good.

Colin George On the surface, "Cold Souls" feels like an unoriginal original. It's being marketed on its offbeat uniqueness, though clearly draws influence from the work of Charlie Kaufman. The trailer plays up a safe weirdness and deadpan comedy that risks alienating exactly no one, but fortunately, paints an incomplete picture of what "Cold Souls" actually is. Granted, the template is very "Being John Malkovich," (make that "Being Paul Giamatti") and thematically, the two films cover a lot of common ground. "Cold Souls," however, is unassuming and straight-forward, earnest and intelligent, and dedicated enough to its voice that it never feels like a work of plagiarism. The film is mellow and contained, where "Malkovich" is loopy, surreal, and expansive. We begin with a simple supposition: the human soul can, through a specialized procedure, be extracted from the human body. That's our big buy, and the focus of the film is on the implications of that premise on an intimate and an economic scale. Enter Paul Giamatti, who's struggling with his performance in an adaptation of Chekov's "Uncle Vanya." Giamatti's performance is layered and nuanced, and playing himself proves one of his most difficult and rewarding roles yet. The "Vanya" rehearsals and performances highlight the three different versions of himself he plays: Giamatti, Giamatti sans soul, and Giamatti endowed with the soul of a Russian poet (guess which one performs "Vanya" best). The better part of the film, however, is an exploration of the soul trafficking trade. Giamatti's soul is stolen by a Russian black market mule, and when soullessness and uncomfortable surrogate souls convince Paul to turn back to himself, he departs for St. Petersburg for some literal soul searching. The human soul as a physical commodity is the basis for the major thematic and philosophical underpinnings of the film, along with the implication of soul transplant, which interestingly leaves a residue that accumulates during transfers. These shards of identity linger, and in a particularly amusing scene, the soul mule finds herself at a Russian video store asking for any American movie starring Paul Giamatti ("Paul Giamatti?" repeats the clerk). The playful jabs at celebrity (Giamatti's soul is later confused for Al Pacino's), the sci- fi/ existentialist themes, and the terrific performance(s) by Mr. Giamatti grow to wholly transcend any uncouth comparisons to "Being John Malkovich," obvious as the inspiration is."Cold Souls" is actually more reserved and mature than most of Kaufman's films, substituting arbitrary oddity for worldly wherewithal. Perhaps director Sophie Barthes' biggest (though relatively lonely) flaw in writing and directing the film is not digging deep enough. "Cold Souls" is a small but surprisingly successful piece with an asterisk that despite a big idea, its ambition is kept in constant check, and it's disappointing she doesn't take the premise further. Then again, Kaufman's sort of staked himself out as the Cecil B DeMille of strange, and a quiet nod to his work may be the most authentic. "Cold Souls" is one of the better indies this year, and if it lacks in originality, it compensates in substance.