Beautiful, moving film.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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.

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.

Cold Souls (2009)This 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 owner's qualities. And that carries along a few consequences. naturally.Everything 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, "a chick pea!")Giamatti is not my favorite actor but all my friends think he'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 isn't a tour de force, an Al Pacino or Cate Blanchett jaw-dropper, though I think it'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 movie's simple, clever plot is one of its charms.There are echoes of the absurd and the playful of two earlier (and better) movies, the incredibly inventive "Being John Malkovich" and the cinematically engrossing "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." 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 it's solid it's also short of its potential, which unfortunately is so obvious. It's a great idea. And a rather good movie.

The bio-medical industry's hubris is brilliantly satirized in this story that starts as a comedy illustrating the great length an actor will go to succeed in his career. Unfortunately, it slowly evolves over what seems like an ice age into a bleak tragedy showing us how avarice and corruption can ruin lives in pursuit of a quick buck or just a small part in a TV show.Cold Souls brings us a version of an MRI machine that in little less that an afternoon and with less pain than a dentist's visit can instantly manage Paul Giamatti's soul thereby freeing him from the daily despairs that are simply facts of life but are often overwhelming obstacles keeping us from happiness. Souls are removed, replaced, stored, lost, found, stolen, and recovered as if they are nothing but another internal organ like a gallbladder or second kidney that many people live without. It's a great parody on the pharmaceutical industry's relentless barrage of various new drugs for the same old ailments that offer instant gratification but without the commercials that spend more time on side-effects than the benefit of the product.However Cold Souls turns into an odyssey that goes on and on with scene after scene none of which really seem to get Paul and his detachable soul reunited and in some cases leaves more questions unanswered. In spite of its faults, it's rare to find a movie that doesn't show itself as an allegory too obviously.