Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 118
Fresh: 87 | Rotten: 31
Straddling existential drama and surrealist comedy, Sophie Barthes debut feature is beautifully shot and full of inventive quandaries.
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 6
Straddling existential drama and surrealist comedy, Sophie Barthes debut feature is beautifully shot and full of inventive quandaries.
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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 28,022
Writer/director Sophie Barthes crafts this metaphysical tragicomedy, which straddles the line between reality and fantasy, set in a world where souls are extracted from humans and traded as commodites. Paul Giamatti is an anxious New Yorker who finds the answer to his deep-rooted malaise after stumbling upon an article about a high-tech company that claims to have found a solution to human suffering. By deep-freezing souls, claims the company, they can give their customers a life free from fear,
Aug 7, 2009 Wide
Mar 2, 2010
$0.7M
IDP/Samuel goldwyn Films
All Critics (118) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (87) | Rotten (31) | DVD (1)
It's comical, yes, but glum and brooding, too, a wintry waltz through acting, underground commerce and metaphysics.
These are all very surreal, inventive ideas, heightened by the dreamlike cinematography from Barthes' partner, Andrij Parekh; the scenes shot in St. Petersburg, for example, are simultaneously gauzy and bleak.
Giamatti stammers and futzes and self-loathes with the best of 'em, and his endearing persona and droopy-dog face can move the film along even when the narrative can't.
Peppered with ingenious twists of imagination, Cold Souls walks a tightrope between intellectual slapstick and edgy social commentary.
These pitch-perfect moments, as well as Giamatti's performance as an artist driven to a personal and creative brink, make Cold Souls, if not always coherent, at least compelling.
A clever existential comedy.
By the time Barthes' screenplay descends into a psychodrama of infancy, we're beyond caring.
Fanciful tale is fun for grownups; won't appeal to kids.
Barthes' execution is flat, philosophically empty and mostly boring. But you can't call it soulless (no, not even when it's a zinger of a pun to finish the review with).
Sophie Barthes' debut feature is a surreal blend of witty comedy and reflective %u2014 please excuse the expression %u2014 soul searching.
Feels like "Being John Malkovich" but funny nonetheless. Paul Chambers, CNN.
If you could buy Cold Souls in flatpack form from IKEA, when you laid out all the parts on the living room floor they'd look a lot like the components for a Charlie Kaufman movie.
You'd say that Cold Souls is strange, but strange doesn't begin to describe this darkly humorous, concept film.
Cold Souls is imitation Kaufman, written and directed by newcomer Sophie Barthes, who makes no effort to hide the source of her inspiration.
The result is a deliciously deadpan piece of absurdism with some unexpectedly poignant touches.
In Cold Souls, it is time for more metaphysical mucking about with an actor playing a pretentiously remixed version of his real self.
There's added appeal thanks to Barthes' silly but fun film via the outstanding cinematography by her collaborator, Andrij Parekh, whose arty lighting and careful framing make the film a visual treat.
Barthes' first film indicates a fearless, imaginative writer/director with a great deal more to offer audiences with her future projects; if Cold Souls isn't always easy to warm to, it certainly lights the fire of a talent worth watching.
An uneasy mix of comedy and ideas, which flatters both itself and its audience that it's smarter and wryer than it really is.
Much of cinema is so predictable these days. Cold Souls isn't.
Smart and funny, it's an amusing showcase for a great idea and the terrific Giamatti.
I love the bizarreness of the premise about a man who feels so heavy by the weight of his soul he puts it into cold storage, and although Cold Souls doesn't quite gel in the final analysis, there is much about this dream-inspired film that is wonderful
Cold Souls is odd and gloomy but the deadpan comedy and introspective musings are engaging and Giamatti's tour de force is worth the price of admission.
Fun one time through. I feel like they could have done more with it (too bad it wasn't written by Charlie Kaufman).
January 6, 2011Super Reviewer
A good movie with good performances by Paul Giamatti (always dependable), David Strathairn, and Emily Watson. I liked the idea of the film, but it becomes kind of a Charlie Kaufman rip off after awhile. Well made and written, but comes off as just "meh" by the end.
December 18, 2010Super Reviewer
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