Cold Souls (2009)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Sophie Barthes

Writer:

Sophie Barthes (writer)

Release Date:

6 November 2009 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Paul is an actor who feels bogged down by his participation in a production of Chekov's play, Vanya. |

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Paul Giamatti	...	Paul
Dina Korzun	...	Nina
Emily Watson	...	Claire
David Strathairn	...	Dr. Flintstein
Katheryn Winnick	...	Sveta
Lauren Ambrose	...	Stephanie
Boris Kievsky	...	Oleg
Oksana Lada	...	Sasha
Natalia Zvereva	...	Anastasia
Rebecca Brooksher	...	Yelena
Yevgeniy Dekhtyar	...	Hotel Receptionist
Floanne Ankah	...	Ballerina
Fabrizia Dal Farra	...	Ballerina
Polina Gorokhovskaya	...	Sophisticated Prostitute
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Aronov	...	Mafioso
Marie-Pierre Beausejour	...	Sonya
Kevin Cannon	...	Angry Protestor
Erin Cronican	...	Assistant to Director
Alexandra Donhoeffner	...	Ballerina
John Farrer	...	Dream Sequence Violinist
Laura Heisler
Ted Koch	...	INS Officer
Gregory Korostishevsky	...	Yuri
Eliezer Meyer	...	Russian Airline Passenger
Armand Schultz	...	Astrov
Stella Stark	...	Paul's young mother
Wendy Rich Stetson	...	Soul Storage Mother
Michael Tucker	...	Frank- Director

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for nudity and brief strong language.

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44960)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Journeyman Pictures

Trivia:

The film was inspired by a dream in which Woody Allen discovers that his soul looks just like a chickpea.

Impressive Giamatti Performance in Futuristic Dark Comedy

This dreamlike dark comedy starring Paul Giamatti is strangely hilarious at times and at other times it is moving. Paul Giamatti who plays himself in the film, is an actor in misery that is struggling with acting a soulful character in a Chekov play. He reads an article in The New Yorker about a company that can extract souls and preserve them, so one can live without a soul. Giamatti being curious decides to check it out. David Strathairn plays the soul doctor and is hilarious. Giamatti's first visit is full of humorous dry jokes as he is convinced to have his soul extracted. After feeling hollow and empty without a soul, Giamatti decides to borrow the soul of a Russian poet. Unsatisfied, all he wants is his own soul back, however it has been borrowed by the soap opera actress wife of a Russian mafioso. The way the film is portrayed is very surreal and the director did an excellent job capturing this feel. Giamatti steals the screen as he is humorous and yet can believably portray such complex emotion.