DVD Review: Cold Souls

Posted Mar 2, 2010 by Kevin Walker

Updated Mar 2, 2010 at 12:32 PM

Cold Souls
Stars: Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Dina Korzun, Emily Watson, Katheryn Winnick
Directors: Sophie Barthes (feature film debut)
The plot: Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti, the first clue this film is a kind of Charlie Kaufman-esque romp through the metafictional landscape (Kaufman wrote, among other things, “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation”). Too overwhelmed by emotion to play the lead in Chekov’s “Uncle Vanya” stage production, Giamatti visits a special facility run by Dr. Flintstein (Strathairn) where they offer soul removal and storage. Although he feels better without his soul, Giamatti loses the ability to be empathetic and his performance in the play rehearsals goes from bad to awful. When he tries to get his soul back (it’s the shape and size of a chickpea), he finds it has been stolen and sold on the black market in Russia to a young actress, Sveta (Winnick). He goes on a journey to retrieve his soul, aided by Russian “soul mule” Nina (Korzun), who carries black market souls inside her.
Bottom line: Barthes deserves credit for concocting something this riveting — and insane — in her debut. It’s a spectacular vehicle for Giamatti, who is hilarious, particularly in the scenes in which his soul-less self offers a hideously comic interpretation of depressed Uncle Vanya and he offers some deadpan, pragmatic advice to a woman with a dying mother. What keeps the film from greatness is the final third in Russia, but if you like the sort of quirkiness found in Kaufman’s movies, you’ll be forgiving.
Extras: A short on the design of the soul removal machine, and some deleted scenes.
Quote: “Oh, God, no, I don’t want my soul sent to New Jersey.”
101 minutes (PG-13; for nudity and brief strong profanity)