Cold Souls (2009)

Cold Souls: Directed by Sophie Barthes. With Paul Giamatti, Armand Schultz, Michael Tucker, Dina Korzun. Paul is an actor who feels bogged down by his participation in a production of Chekov’s play, Vanya.

“Cold Souls (2009)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a concept movie, in a way, though the concept–that you can have your soul extracted and stored in a jar so that you can live without its weight–is actually a bit thin after awhile. What drives it is not something actually heavy or surreal, about having and trading real souls, but more the idea that your soul also affects, very slightly, your personality, or your talent. So really what happens is people begin to trade or borrow souls, and they acquire a little bit of the owneru0026#39;s qualities. And that carries along a few consequences. naturally.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEverything is presented in a deadpan comic way. The souls stored in their foot long glass jars vary greatly, some looking like creative sculptures and others like, well, a jelly bean. Or in the case of our hero, Paul Giamatti, a garbanzo bean. (The Russian half of the cast says in joyful astonishment, u0026quot;a chick pea!u0026quot;)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGiamatti is not my favorite actor but all my friends think heu0026#39;s terrific and I like the type he plays, a schlumpy everyman with Homer Simpson eyes. And Giamatti, who plays a character named Paul Giamatti, makes this movie. It isnu0026#39;t a tour de force, an Al Pacino or Cate Blanchett jaw-dropper, though I think itu0026#39;s meant to be (he even has roles within roles, with his character rehearsing a stage play). To some extent his willingness to succumb to the movieu0026#39;s simple, clever plot is one of its charms.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are echoes of the absurd and the playful of two earlier (and better) movies, the incredibly inventive u0026quot;Being John Malkovichu0026quot; and the cinematically engrossing u0026quot;Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.u0026quot; Both of those are written by the astonishing Charlie Kaufman. Here the writer Sophie Barthes is working almost solo since she is also directing, and if itu0026#39;s solid itu0026#39;s also short of its potential, which unfortunately is so obvious. Itu0026#39;s a great idea. And a rather good movie.”