Cold Souls should have been really good. It stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Giamatti, an unhappy actor who pays a doctor (David Strathairn) to remove his soul in an “amazing” new procedure. No, it’s not a Charlie Kaufman movie, no matter how much it wants to be. Think a mixture of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine, re-written by McG. It just doesn’t have the moxie to pull off the absurdist farce. First time feature director Sophie Barthes has a good eye, the film looks good, and it seems that she got decent performances out of her actors. Every time I looked up from the magazine I started reading at the 20 minute mark, Giamatti looked as though he was emoting, big time. The problem was, I just didn’t care. At no point did I feel a connection with the main character, or most others. And there are some good actors here, aside from Paul G. and Strathairn. Emily Watson plays Giamatti’s wife, and she is criminally underused. I had to look it up on IMDB before I remembered she was in it.
Perhaps the only bright spot was Dina Korzun. She plays a smuggler of souls, and is the only character who seems to have that all-important third dimension of depth.
When I first saw the preview I thought three things.
1. Who doesn’t love Giamatti?
2. Who doesn’t love Strathairn?
3. Who wouldn’t like a movie about removing ones soul and keeping it in a jar?
The answer sadly was me.
Despite all these problems, I can recognize that it’s a decent movie. It is well executed technically, and an interesting idea. It just missed the spot somehow.
At the end of the day, Cold Souls isn’t a bad movie, just a disappointing one. – [DVD]
Comedy/Drama
Rated PG-13
DVD Release Date: 2/2/10