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Cold Souls

United States

2009

97 Min
Color
1.85:1
English
  • Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Sophie Barthes

EXEC John Hynansky, D.J. Martin, James Shifren

PROD Daniel Carey, Elizabeth Giamatti, Paul S. Mezey, Andrij Parekh, Jeremy Kipp Walker

SCR Sophie Barthes

DP Andrij Parekh

CAST Paul Giamatti, Dina Korzun, Emily Watson, David Strathairn, Katheryn Winnick, Lauren Ambrose

ED Andrew Mondshein

PROD DES Beth Mickle

MUSIC Dickon Hinchliffe

London (Film on the Square), São Paulo, !F Istanbul (Hit Films), Transilvania (Supernova), Sundance (U.S. Dramatic Competition), Karlovy Vary, Mar del Plata

Synopsis

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? —IMDb

Director

Original

Sophie Barthes

Born in France, Sophie Barthes grew up in the Middle East and South America. A Columbia University graduate, Sophie co-directed the short film Snowblink with cinematographer Andrij Parekh and a Unicef documentary in Yemen on women literacy programs. Both Happiness and Cold Souls, her feature-length screenplay, won the NYSCA Individual Artists Grants and the Showtime Tony Cox Award for Best Screenplay at the Nantucket Film Festival. Sophie completed her residency at the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony and the January ‘07 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. She just completed the June ‘07 Sundance Directors Lab with Cold Souls, to be produced by Touchy Feely Films and Journeyman Pictures. —Lunafest 

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Picture of Baby Rocco

Baby Rocco

5Mar13

Pretty amazing soundtrack..adored Giamatti

Picture of Kirby

Kirby

7Apr12

One of my favorite Giamatti roles, but the screenplay just feels lacking.

Picture of billy c.

billy c.

14Mar12

All Giamatti does is mope. That's it.

Picture of Nick McGaw

Nick McGaw

5Jan12

A decent concept that didn't seem thought through. Paul Giamatti did what he could with the material and his soul-less acting of Uncle Vanya is the highlight. I didn't care for the female lead, she was a cipher, and a boring one at that. Plus the cinematographer drove me crazy. The supposedly artful lack of focus woven throughout did nothing but make me want to visit an optometrist. Sundance-y in the negative.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

Movie Poster of the Week: "Up in the Air"

By Adrian Curry on November 13, 2009

If anyone merits the “big head” poster treatment so expertly parodied by Funny or Die it would be everybody’s favorite movie star George Clooney

read article
W184

The Auteurs Daily: Bright Lights

By David Hudson on August 3, 2009

A new issue of Bright Lights Film Journal slipped online over the weekend

read article

Sitges 09: COLD SOULS Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
[Yes, Cold Souls’ time has come and gone in North America but with the film screening here at the Sitges Festival now seems a good time to revisit one of the years quiet gems.] A darkly absurd, surreal
→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Sitges 09: COLD SOULS Review

By Twitchfilm.net on July 17, 2010
[Yes, Cold Souls’ time has come and gone in North America but with the film screening here at the Sitges Festival now seems a good time to revisit one of the years quiet gems.] A darkly absurd, surreal
→ read on Twitchfilm.net

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Untitled

By Alexand​ria on August 31, 2009

Cold Soul was an interesting subject and I loved how it was played to be a normal situation in life today. The cinematography and editing was lacking though… I don’t know if it was done on purpose…  read review

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COLD AND SOULESS

9 posts by 6 people over 3 years ago