Cold Souls
Paul Giamatti has a lost soul. And he wants it back.
In this surreal comedy, Paul Giamatti plays an actor named... Paul Giamatti. Paul very well might have found the key to happiness for which hes been searching, soul storage. But complications arise when he is the unfortunate victim of "soul trafficking." Balancing a tightrope between deadpan humor and pathos, and reality and fantasy, Cold Souls is a true soul searching comedy.
Member Reviews
Great Acting - LilyandMick
Paul plays this movie charactor as his name. It was interesting. The storyline is very interesting that it gets into you more and more as the story goes. This movie makes you wonder what if you can do.... It was the inspirational story and fun to watch and entertained by this movie.This film frustrated me... - cathyottawa
....because the concept is so clever, and they could have done such great things with it.
This isn't a bad film by any stretch. Reminiscent of both Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it's a surreal journey that asks, just what is the soul? What if it was something tangible, that we could extract, essentially walking around soulless? And what if we could borrow someone else's soul?
This was very Philip K Dick for me, and I could see the concept working well in a big budget science fiction movie like Minority Report or Blade Runner.
But this is a quiet, unassuming little film, that really explores just one man's soul; Paul Giamatti, playing a fictionalized version of himself.
There is much to love, and I liked the film a lot, but couldn't help but think it could have been so much more.
Emily Watson is also sorely underused as Giamatti's wife.
This film will also frustrate some because of it's ending - one of those "what the heck does that mean" kind of endings. And it leaves some questions unanswered.
On a technical note. The DVD I got from Zip didn't have any subtitles, despite quite a bit of Russian dialogue. The only option in the subtitles menu is English for the hard of hearing or deaf. If you turn those on during the Russian scenes, you'll get your translations. Very annoying and puzzling.Dark humour? More like sci-fi. - LloydH
Once I got over the fact that there was very little comedic element in this film, and accepted it for what it was, a unique science fiction story, I found this movie to be an incredible experience of internal reflection. True Paul Giamatti fans know the breadth of his talent, and this movie will not disappoint. Where Being John Malkovich was a dark comedy, the only similarity is that Paul Giamatti plays himself, as did John, the rest is all darkness. Great film.
Member Reviews
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Great Acting - LilyandMick
Paul plays this movie charactor as his name. It was interesting. The storyline is very interesting that it gets into you more and more as the story goes. This movie makes you wonder what if you can do.... It was the inspirational story and fun to watch and ...This film frustrated me... - cathyottawa
....because the concept is so clever, and they could have done such great things with it.
This isn't a bad film by any stretch. Reminiscent of both Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it's a surreal journey that asks, just ...Dark humour? More like sci-fi. - LloydH
Once I got over the fact that there was very little comedic element in this film, and accepted it for what it was, a unique science fiction story, I found this movie to be an incredible experience of internal reflection. True Paul Giamatti fans know the breadth ...