While the idea's neat, there's no attempt to explore the weighty implications. It's a likeably quirky movie, mind, with Giamatti's hangdog features meaning a smile's never too far from your lips.
Comment
11/13/09
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
The film itself seems to inhabit the soul of another screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman, though it's more a respectful nod than a blatant steal. Barthes shows enough wit and daring of her own to mark her as one to watch.
11/13/09
Hugely enjoyable, frequently funny and ultimately thought-provoking comedy with a delightfully absurd script.
11/13/09
Like a collision of Charlie Kaufman and Woody Allen, this dark comedy is a surreal gem.
11/13/09
It's an amuse-bouche, for exactly the kind of twerp who uses words like "amuse-bouche". If that's you, you'll love it. You big ponce.
11/13/09
It's a precious, whimsical premise, but while Barthes has some decent jokes, and a wonderful facilitator for those jokes in Giamatti, its underlying insights aren't all that profound and this ultimately feels more formulaic than it should.
11/13/09
doesn't quite cohere around its squishy metaphysical center, and sometimes swings erratically from meditative essay to screwball surrealism ...
10/05/09
A high-concept Russian flavored black comedy.
10/03/09
It's comical, yes, but glum and brooding, too, a wintry waltz through acting, underground commerce and metaphysics.
09/30/09
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09/24/09
Barthes gets bogged down in existentialism in the movie's final third, but until then she engages in some fun absurdist humor, anchored by a strong performance from Giamatti.
09/23/09
Any work that purports to be about the nature of the soul is pretty high in the pretension realm. In this case, it's also one of the most fascinating movies of 2009.
09/22/09
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
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.
09/18/09
Top CriticGiamatti is masterful, swaddled in a heavy beard and an existential slump.
09/18/09
[It] wouldn't work at all without the very talented Giamatti. He has to portray a person with a soul, as well as a soulless one, and make us believe that's the case. He does so, perfectly.
09/17/09
High concept, interesting, and well-performed, but ironically soulless. I enjoyed the journey we went on with Paul, but it had some intangible thing lacking.
09/10/09
the most deliciously off-beat comedy of the year
09/10/09
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.
09/04/09
The writer-director, Sophie Barthes, stays true to fairy-tale and literary notions of souls while surrounding them with sleek sci-fi paraphernalia.
09/04/09
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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