Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

bowmanblue Talking about Cold Souls is almost impossible without mentioning Charlie Kaufman (who wrote Being John Malkovich and other similar 'far out' screenplays). Unfortunately, Cold Souls' writer/director Sophie Barthes seems to want to distance her work from that of Kaufman's.If you've seen Being John Malkovich you'll know the script is a back 'out there' (and if you haven't seen it, you definitely should!) - it explores weird existential themes like multiple people living in one body etc. And, whether Sophie Barthes likes it or not, or even meant it or not, Cold Souls if definitely in the same category.Paul Giamatti plays (a slightly exaggerated various of) himself - an actor of reasonable credibility, who's having trouble getting into character for one of his plays. He hears about a company who can remove (and store) your soul, freeing you up for apparently anything.If you can believe in the concept of removing, storing (and even selling!) your soul, then you should at least be intrigued by this film. It's part drama, part comedy and part make-you-question-the-nature-of-being, but never stays with just one of the genres for any length of time.Naturally things don't go right for poor Paul and his soul gets stolen and he has to track it down. What follows won't have you falling off your seat laughing, nor in floods of tears, but, if you're after something that's just a little bit quirky then this one might be for you.Bottom line: if you liked Being John Malkovich then this one may also amuse.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

Imdbidia Cold Souls is a comedy of the absurd with some surrealist and existentialist touches, and a philosophical query on the nature of the soul. The film departs from a quote from Descartes that says that the soul is located in a little place in the brain, a premise that leaves out one of the most interesting aspects of the nature of the soul. The script is more interested in asking and answering the following questions: What exactly is the soul? What does the soul to our self and how it defines who we are? What would it be not having a soul and being just a corporeal being? What would it be living with the soul of another person? Why would anybody want to empty out his/her body from his/her soul? Paul Giametti plays himself, better said, a version of himself - an actor in crisis, burdened by the weight of role he's playing on his mood and spirit -even though this is just created by his job-, who goes to a clinic where the soul can be extracted and stored, restored and exchanged, whatever you like. What happens Giametti in his quest to be soul-lighted without his soul is the core of the story.Giametti shows once again what a great actor he is. Russian actress Dina Kurzun, who plays a "mule" of souls between Russia and the US is OK in her role. The other actors are all mediocre, that's the truth.The tone of the film is somewhat depressing and gray, which goes well with Giametti's character. In fact, all the characters in the movie are very serious and gray, as if all souls in the world had that same defect. I think that's the best part of the movie, the depiction of a world of gray souls, always unsatisfied about being human, always wanting to be perfect. Humans avoiding everything that makes us humans. The unwillingness of humans to see within, to deal with our emotions, feelings and problems, our past and present. The soul as a product of trade, like our society, in which everything is for sale, and bogus people are everywhere. These elements are openly and clearly presented, in a successful way through Giametti's dialogs and part of the storyline.On the other hand, I see a contradiction, a deep one, between what the director wants to portray and what actually the characters in the script portray. If the soul is undeniable linked to our emotions and feelings, and their weight makes us what we are, how is possible that a person without soul, empty, can be aware and suffer from not having a soul? If your soul is not yours but that of another person, how do you know (from an emotional point of view) that the soul is not yours? If the soul is located in a part of the brain, how can the brain work normally after the soul has been extracted? The movie does not success at offering response to these questions, and in fact mixes things up a little bit.Despite the serious tone of the film, the main concepts that the movie deals with are examined superficially. Perhaps, a lighter story an characters and a deeper analysis of the philosophical elements of the script would have produced a more engaging film. I am thinking, for example, in The Truman Show, which did just that without losing any depth, and being an entertaining movie at the same time.There is a problem with the music too, at least to me. A couple of songs in French appear from nowhere halfway the movie. They are beautiful and very much of my liking, but they do not fit with the rest of the music and the general music ambiance of the film. In fact they were a shock and a distraction from the scene that they were paired with.The film has an excellent starting point and some very original ideas, but the tone of the film is too serious on one hand, and too descriptive in the other. It's not a drama or a comedy either, an ambiguous mix instead.I think that, still, is one of those films you have to see because it is daring, different and original.By the way, I love the movie poster. It's great and pretty much sums up the main concept of the film in just one shot.

dunmore_ego Apparently, losing your soul makes you act like William Shatner.In COLD SOULS, brilliant actor Paul Giamatti plays brilliant actor Paul Giamatti, who is so psychologically stricken playing Uncle Vanya in the Chekov play of the same name, that he stores his soul at a soul storage agency, only to have it stolen by the Russian black market.A darker journey than ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and a blacker comedy than BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, COLD SOULS is a disturbing, unique gem of a movie. Crafted by writer-director Sophie Barthes.The real Giamatti - as game as the real Malkovich - plays himself, who approaches the soul storage issue not without a realistic amount of skepticism. Emily Watson plays his confused wife. What sells the movie's touchy premise is that everyone plays it dead straight. They live in a reality where soul extraction and storage is possible, so it is like any other new medical procedure involving a big futuristic machine that looks incomprehensible.Giamatti is sold by the expertise and straightforward sincerity of Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn), who shows him a range of souls in small glass canisters, all manner of amorphous shapes, but, as he explains, though we imagine the soul to be colorful, they all surprisingly come in shades of gray.Giamatti's soul looks like a chickpea.When his soul is removed he is asked, "How do you feel?" Other than "hollow" he says he feels great, albeit saying it in a blank way. (Still, I was just wondering, as per the Christian Handbook, don't you need a soul to feel anything?) He goes back to his stage play, and though not in anguish any more over emoting, he is not ANYTHING any more. His "dead face" assumes prominence between rehearsal takes that sound like Shatner on ice. Giamatti is such a great actor that he can actually act like he can't actually act. Or at least act like Shatner can't act.Meanwhile, in a parallel story that provides the darkness and disquietude of this experience, Russian Nina (Dina Korzun) illicitly assumes Paul's soul, transporting it to Russia in her body. In the trade, she is called a "mule," a "soul train," if you will, who loads up a soul in America and brings it back to Russia at the behest of her boss. The boss's wife (sexy Katheryn Winnick) wanted the soul of a "great American actor like Al Pacino or Johnny Depp." The gag, of course, is that those guys are famous for being "great actors" while Giamatti is undoubtedly on their creative par. Just not famous for it.Giamatti realizes the soulless Shatner Method is only useful to one person in the universe, so must take on the soul of a Russian poet to put the heart back into his performance; then embarking on a quest to Russia to put the soul back. But first he must convince the blonde who thinks she is imbued with Al Pacino.Hoo-ah!

dude5568 Cold souls was a pleasant experience for me,well the story is a bit unusual but very thoughtful indeed.Paul Giamatti (as Paul Giamatti) plays the role of a famous actor who has been struggling with a play called 'UNCLE VANYA' and tries to find an answer which leads him to give up his soul,is this the final answer he was looking for??..or things become much complicated than before??,as i said the story is quite different and thoughtful.The movie is quite artistic in many ways,may be a little sad at times but always interesting enough to keep you involved.Paul Giamatti with an outstanding performance is very impressive...good film with a great story,better than most