A dark indie comedy that's distinguished by a sci-fi theme and surrealistic touches but ends without a payoff.
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08/20/09
Cold Souls (2009)
75
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:106
Fresh:79
Rotten:27
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Straddling existential drama and surrealist comedy, Sophie Barthes debut feature is beautifully shot and full of inventive quandaries.
Theatrical Release:Aug 7, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $700,980
Synopsis: In response to shiny, bigger, better American consumerism comes COLD SOULS, first-time feature director Sophie Barthes' surreal comedy in which souls can be extracted and traded as commodities.... [More]
Starring: Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Dina Korzun, Katheryn Winnick
Director: Sophie Barthes
Reviews for Cold Souls
Had Cold Souls come out exactly a decade earlier, it would have seemed utterly original and daring ... because it would have beaten Being John Malkovich to the screen by a few months.
09/20/09
The script thinks it's "oh so clever" that I just wanted to puke. A chore to sit through. It felt like it was 3 hours long, but was only half that.
08/29/09
A terrific premise, but I’m not so sure about the execution.
08/10/09
It's a movie about losing your soul that doesn't really have one.
08/21/09
Cold Souls is less a movie than a cinematic decoupage that rips off pieces of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich and blends them together.
08/28/09
Writer-director Sophie Barthes can't decide whether to take the idea seriously or comedically, with the result that it works neither as comedy nor drama.
11/13/09
High on concept, but low on execution writer/director Sophie Barthes' gray comedy of post modern, existential panic never finds its balance before falling off the same kind of narrative wire that "Being John Malkovich" danced effortlessly on.
07/29/09
Competently made but remarkably smug for a film unique only in its paucity of original ideas.
11/13/09
While [it] has a certain quirky charm--mostly due to its star--the overall effect is rather pallid.
08/28/09
Cold Souls is imitation Kaufman, written and directed by newcomer Sophie Barthes, who makes no effort to hide the source of her inspiration.
11/26/09
The more elaborate the plot becomes, the sillier it gets.
08/06/09
Top CriticA trippy premise literally dreamed up by director Sophie Barthes, it is pensive and ponderous, offering a nod and wink to the likes of Philip K Dick and Charlie Kaufman. But it’s also peculiarly remote.
11/13/09
becomes an arty, strangely underwritten drama.
08/05/09
It's a simple query, and a fun one to explore, yet only a temporarily compelling conflict for a feature-length film.
08/14/09
...plays like "The Golden Compass" without the depth crossed with "Being John Malkovich" with far less wit.
08/07/09
In Cold Souls, it is time for more metaphysical mucking about with an actor playing a pretentiously remixed version of his real self.
11/26/09
Giamatti's usual character%u2014at least, the one that Cold Souls wishes to exploit%u2014is paper-thin, working better on the periphery than in the center of the narrative.
08/08/09
An uneasy mix of comedy and ideas, which flatters both itself and its audience that it's smarter and wryer than it really is.
11/24/09
The first half is inventive, but the film really loses steam in the second half. Too many technical problems went unsolved in bringing this story to the screen.
08/23/09
Latest News for Cold Souls
November 22, 2009:
Win Double Passes to Cold Souls
In the tradition of Charlie Kaufman and Woody Allen comes writer-director Sophie Bathes' debut Cold Souls an existential comedy about an actor (Paul Giamatti, playing himself)... More...
August 06, 2009:
Critics Consensus: It's Quiet For G.I. Joe. Too Quiet.
This week at the movies, we got real American heroes (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, starring Dennis Quaid and Sienna Miller); kitchen chronicles (Julie & Julia, starring Meryl... More...
June 21, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
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