Awful film. Mildly interesting concept (perhaps), badly conceived and poorly executed.
One of the worst movies I’ve seen this year.
hmm can either of you two elaborate? I haven’t seen the film, but it does look interesting.
The limp Charlie Kaufmanness of the premise is not explored in a compelling way. The fact that the director thinks such comparisons are unfair or lazy is risible. The cheap postmodernity and self-referentiality of having Paul Giamatti playing himself comes off stale and trite. Giamatti himself is rapidly becoming a tiresome actor who basically gives the same performance over and over again when he’s not playing generic villains in bigger films (perhaps lingering resentment out of not winning an Oscar for Sideways). Once you get past the high concept of the film itself (involving soul extractions and soul trafficking) the film has absolutely nothing intelligent to say. As a satire, the film is obvious and unfunny. As a metaphysical treatise, the film is shallow and pointless.
I saw it earlier this year at the LA Film Festival. Not a bad film but nothing too exciting. Yeah, it’s comparable to Being John Malkovich but since I’m not a fan of that film, it’s hard for me to have much enthusiasm for Cold Souls.
Like Rushmore with quirky indie flicks, I think Kaufman knock-offs like Cold Souls only prove that Kaufman ain’t all that great and original to begin with.
No, Kaufman is highly brilliant and original. These knock offs only prove how original, great, and influential he is in the first place-not the other way around.
I agree with almost everything said. It doesn’t work, it takes a fairly interesting idea/gimmick and does nothing with it.
This kind of post modern film only really works if the person making it actually “knows” something. Cold Souls feels like a film made by someone who doesn’t really know what to do with the ideas it has to explore.
The only interesting thing about Cold Souls is the idea that someone flagrantly ripping off Kaufman, trying to do a Kaufman, is a kinda Kaufmanesque thing to do! Other than that its one of the worst of the year.
Cold Souls does Charlie Kaufman the way The Brother’s Bloom does Wes Anderson.
Major fail.
Marvel Jones
Having just seen Cold Souls (2009) I wonder what people make of this film.