Cold Souls (2009)

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

Director:

Sophie Barthes

Writer:

Sophie Barthes

Stars:

Paul Giamatti, Armand Schultz, Dina Korzun

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Giamatti	...	Paul Giamatti
Armand Schultz	...	Astrov
Michael Tucker	...	Theatre Director
Dina Korzun	...	Nina
Ted Koch	...	INS Officer
Oksana Lada	...	Sasha
Natalia Zvereva	...	Blonde Mule
Larisa Bell	...	Russian Singer
Anna Dyukova	...	Olga (as Anna Dukova)
Charles Techman	...	Soul Storage Doorman
Lauren Ambrose	...	Stephanie
David Strathairn	...	Dr. Flintstein
Laura Heisler	...	Female Client in Promo
Brienin Bryant	...	Young Woman in Soul Storage
Charlotte Mickie	...	Mrs. Rathbone

Storyline

Civilization and its discontents. Paul, an actor preparing for "Uncle Vanya" on Broadway, is mired in ennui. His agent tells him about an office where he can put his soul in storage. He does so then discovers that being soulless helps neither his acting nor his marriage; he returns to the office and rents, for two weeks, the soul of a Russian poet. His acting improves, but his wife finds him different, he sees bits of the borrowed soul's life, and he's now deep in sorrow. He wants his own soul back, but there are complications: it's in St. Petersburg. With the help of Nina, a Russian who transports souls to the U.S., he determines to get it back. Who has he become?

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Plot Keywords:

actor | poet | agent | ennui | chickpea | 

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Taglines:

A soul searching comedy.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for nudity and brief strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Facebook Page

Country:

USA France

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

5 May 2010 (France)

Also Known As:

Alma Perdida

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$63,302 (USA) (7 August 2009)

Gross:

$903,148 (USA) (6 November 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Goldwyn Films, Two Lane Pictures, Winner Arts

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was inspired by a dream Sophie Barthes had in which Woody Allen discovers that his soul looks just like a chickpea. Barthes wrote the first draft with Allen in mind for the lead role.

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Goofs

Dmitri tells the actress not to worry that Paul's soul looks like and is the size of a chickpea, telling her that Al Pacino won three Oscars. Al Pacino has actually only won one Oscar (Best Actor in 1992, Scent of a Woman).

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Quotes

Giamatti - Paul: Are you telling me, my soul is a chick pea?

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Connections

References Scarface (1983)

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Soundtracks

"Potsilunok"
Written by Lubko Futorski, Oleh Sook, Roman Chayka, Yuriy Chopyk, Viktor Neborok
Performed by Mertvyj Piven
Published by Galrecords / Art-Agency Dzyga

User Reviews

Boring and uneven

Cold Souls is a movie that tries hard to be different and edgy... several movies like Being John Malkovich, Stranger than Fiction etc. come to mind. The movie is categorized as a comedy but in that department it falls flat with me. The movie basically revolves around Actor Paul Giamatti playing himself as a depressed man in a crisis. At first his character is really interesting but like the core idea it wears off really quick and at some point in the movie I got annoyed of watching his expressionless face. The concept of getting rid of your soul or buying others souls for different experience is interesting but didn't grip me. At first there is some humorous element when Giamatti is introduced to the concept of soul-extraction. But jokes like the soul looking like a chickpea or a Jellybean and Giamatti dropping it and searching for it like for a dropped contact lens left me with the feeling that this is supposed to be comedic but doesn't work at all. I was especially put off by the odd pacing of the movie introducing characters that I barely cared of, especially all those scenes in Russian without subtitles were annoying. There are some interesting visual shots in this movie but it all feels jammed in for artsy interest, so up until the sudden ending (although the movie felt endless) even those parts didn't work for me. All in all a big disappointment, although I liked Paul Giamattis work and will check out some of his other movies for sure.