Cold Souls (Barthes, 2009) — Giamatti as himself, w/ Emily Watson, David Strathairn

[The Bus]

<img src="http://images.apple.com/moviesxml/s/independent/posters/coldsouls_l200906181557.jpg">
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127877/">IMDB</a> | 7 August 2009

<a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/coldsouls/"><b>HD Trailer</b></a>

Paul Giamatti has found a solution! In the surreal comedy COLD SOULS, Paul Giamatti plays an actor named… Paul Giamatti. Stumbling upon an article in The New Yorker about a high-tech company that extracts, deep-freezes and stores people’s souls, Paul very well might have found the key to happiness for which he’s been searching. But, complications arise when he is the unfortunate victim of “soul-trafficking.” Giamatti’s journey takes him all the way to Russia in hopes of retrieving his stolen soul from an ambitious but talentless soap-opera actress.

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This looks pretty fantastic and in the same vein as <b>Being John Malkovich</b>.

[Brent L]

Alrighty, so I saw this earlier today. I went in totally blind also, with the only thing I knew about it being that Paul Giamatti was the star, it was called Cold Souls, and that it has received fairly high reviews just about everywhere.

It's really hard to comment on off the top of my head, I just got back from it, but I'll just say that I really liked it and the high scores it has received are warranted. It's a fun dark, very dark, smart comedy. It's totally unlike most films released from year to year, so that's a great point also. And yes, like others have said, it is very Kaufmanesque, and to me that's a great thing. We don't have nearly enough filmmakers willing to step outside the box to this extent.

It's a fantastic directorial and screenwriting debut from Sophie Barthes, and I certainly can't wait to see what she has to offer up next.

[Giles]

this came and went here in DC without little fanfare, guess I'll have to wait for the DVD/bluray.

[The Bus]

this came and went here in DC without little fanfare, guess I'll have to wait for the DVD/bluray.

IIRC it was released by Samuel Goldwyn Films. They don't really have huge marketing budgets for their films.

[Sierra Disc]

I saw this and enjoyed it, although it was perilously close to being a Charlie Kaufman homage at some points. But Paul Giamatti's neurotic charm really helped keep it above water; it wasn't quite a classic, but thought provokingly oddball.