Cold Souls

WARNING!! SPOILERS!!

Recently, a movie called Cold Souls was released, written and directed by Sophie Barnes. The most notable actor is Paul Giamatti. This is above all else, an interesting movie which in my opinion is a true hidden gem.

This movie firstly has one of the most unusual traits for a major movie: the main character is the same name as the actor playing him. The lead character is named Paul Giamatti, who is played by Paul Giamatti. Very unusual. Especially in a movie like this. Even though Sophie Barnes hates the comparison, it is quite similar to something Charlie Kaufman would write.

Cold Souls is about the business of souls. This movie has a lot of information that it has to get across for the viewer to follow what is going on, and it manages to go at a slow enough pace to make that happen. Souls are objects within us that can be extracted and stored, and a company does this for a fee. When Paul is feeling weighed down by his soul, he is recommended by his agent (and a New Yorker article) to go through this process. He is at the time taking part in a stage production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and he just can't quite do it. So, when he goes in to have the soul-extracting procedure done, he has to get used to the absence of a soul... the emptiness and the feeling of nothing, which is nice for awhile, but he compares it to death. We then learn that it is possible to have someone else's soul in our bodies. He gets a Russian poet's soul, which aids him in his performance of Uncle Vanya. But it is a tortured soul, and he wants to meet its original host.

This is where the movie really takes off. We have been seeing these Russians working with souls in some manor in Russia, but we aren't sure what's entirely going on. Until we find out that there is an unregulated trade going on. The Russians get people to give up their souls, which are then transported to America (in a person, because the souls in the jars can't handle the pressures of an airplane). The person is called a mule, just like in drug movies. The problem with this is that every soul that is taken in a body leaves a little bit of itself behind, so there is only so much stress a body can take from this because of the residual soul parts that get left behind. The movie gets quite interesting as Paul figures he doesn't want the Russian soul; he just wants his own. But his soul has been stolen by a mule and taken to Russia for a woman who wants to be a good actress. Paul goes on a search to retrieve his own soul.

This movie, as entertaining as it is, raises several philosophical questions about what it means to be alive. Descartes and Schopenhauer and many other famous philosophers would have a field day with this movie. This movie is definitely an interesting idea and is filled with many deep ideas, but it manages to keep them straight for the audience. There are moments though when its obvious that something is missing. There are some plot holes. Such as how Nina gets a hold of the Russian wife, or what happened to the Russian soul that Paul has inside of himself. There are some really great moments, mostly by the doctor, played by David Strathairn.

Overall, I think this is a very good movie, mostly because it makes the audience think about what it means to be alive and what it means to be an individual. There are moments that are out of sync with the logic of the movie, mostly because it's a slow-paced movie that near the end goes a little too quickly for the facts not to mesh up entirely. But looking past that, I think this movie is well worth a viewing. It isn't a feel good movie, but it will make you think about your life probably more than you had before.

Here is a link to the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ2t2vDfM1M