The long shadow of neurotics past hangs heavy over Cold Souls, the debut feature effort from writer-director Sophie Barthes. In particular, one can see the lingering influence of both Woody Allen and Charlie Kaufman, as the film’s screenplay tries to meld together the distinctly whiny, self-loathing, and socially ill-adjusted sensibilities of both those writers. To be fair, while both Allen and Kaufman have spent their careers hiring surrogates to personify their personal issues on film, neither one of them ever found one quite as effective or personable as Paul Giamatti, who portrays an actor named Paul Giamatti (but still not himself, which is one of the film’s less successful tropes). It is tribute to his presence as an actor that the film retains the charm that it does, and is able to pull off some of its more half-baked ideas.
Paul Giamatti’s inner life is deflating due to his participation in a production of Uncle Vanya, as the role requires far more gravitas than his fragile psyche seems to be able to handle. As a relief, he investigates the offices of Dr. Flintstein (David Straithairn) after reading an article in The New Yorker claiming that they extract souls from the body. Hoping that it will relieve him of his stress he undergoes the operation, only to find that his soul actually resembles a chickpea (the variations in size, shape, and color of the soul is something that could have been a compelling subplot, but ends up reduced to a humorous aside). At first, it is relieving to be freed of the burden, but soon enough he finds that the cons of not having a soul far outweigh the pros (the greatest of which having to do with his ability to perform Uncle Vanya), and soon desires his soul back. Unfortunately, his soul is already on the Russian black market and he is forced to enlist the help of ‘soul mule’ Nina (Dina Korzun) to try to get it back.
I’ve never really cared for any Charlie Kaufman film that I’ve seen, but I do have to give him this - his wacky concepts do always have some grounding in human motivation. Even if I didn’t like or want to spend time with his characters, I understood why they were doing what they were doing. Here, the concept of soul extraction remains adequately visualized, but woefully under explained. The film’s explanation of a soul, and why anyone would really want to get rid of one, lacks any real dimension to it, and never gets the intellectual and emotional traction necessary to get any meaningful foothold as a concept. When you take a step back, it’s clear what the problem is: despite the film’s Being John Malkovich aspirations, this is really a Terry Gilliam concept, neutered and tamed by the director’s insistence of manners over inhibition. As a result, the film plays more like a series of gently amusing ideas rather than a truly invigorating or imaginative work. By the time the Russian mob becomes involved, ‘gently amusing’ feels more like a handicap than a promise of entertainment.
At the center of it all, however, is Paul Giamatti, whose interpretation of soullessness is at least as interesting as Bart Simpson’s. Whether he’s whining nervously to his wife Claire (Emily Watson), trying to negotiate with the Russian mob, or hopelessly bumbling through Uncle Vanya, he conveys a neurosis that is focused (rather than scattershot) and layered, not to mention really funny, suggesting that he might not have been such a bad Michael Scott after all. He also manages to find (without the help of the screenplay) that weird zone where it doesn’t even really matter that the idea that he’s not playing himself doesn’t make any sense (and is really kind of annoying). It’s totally plausible that he behaves this way when cameras aren’t pointed at him, but then again, it’s impossible for us to know for sure.
Cold Souls is an amusing movie, and it certainly isn’t a bad one, but you get the feeling that it wanted to be a really substantial one, and it isn’t. You may laugh out loud a few times (probably due to Giamatti), but I’m willing to guess you won’t have your own soul nourished.
Bonus Features
Soul Extractor-A short featurette depicting the design and creative process for the film’s central prop-the soul extractor (which owes more than a little inspiration to the folks at Lacuna).
Deleted Scenes-Mostly Giamatti acting goofy, which is usually pretty funny.
Trailers
"Cold Souls" is on sale March 2, 2010 and is rated PG13. Drama. Written by Sophie Barthes. Starring David Strathairn, Emily Watson, Katheryn Winnick, Paul Giamatti, Dina Korzun.
