Cold Souls

Paul Giamatti, director Sophie Barthes and other cast and crew from "Cold Souls"

LIBRARY THEATRE, PARK CITY

Now back the the Library Theatre having just a few minutes ago left the Racquet Club and the screening of "Cold Souls." From director Sophie Barthes, this film centers on Paul Giamatti as... Paul Giamatti. He's doing a stint as Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and is having trouble separating himself from the role. His agent turns him onto soul storage, a new service in which the soul is removed from the body and stored, leaving the person feeling light and unburdened. Unfortunately it also has side effects, ultimately leading Paul to "try out" the imported soul of a Russian poet. This works wonders for his Vanya, but causes much internal struggle that ultimately leads him to demand his original soul back, with all its weight and imperfections. But the soul has gone missing. Thus we tumble into a world of soul trafficking, soul "mules" and an exploration of what a soul is really worth.

The film, despite its crazy premise, is actually quite believable. The concepts are equally absurd to the characters as they are to the audience, so suspension of disbelief comes easily. There are echoes of familiar absurdest fare such as Being John Malkovich, but the inspiration ultimately comes much more from French surrealist cinema. It's a good ride that doesn't screw too much with your head and is easily likened to a strange dream that seemed all too real - not a stretch considering the original inspiration for the film came when Barthes had a dream one night several years back where she and Woody Allen found themselves going through their own soul extraction procedures.

The ending comes a bit abruptly and without a lot of closure, but that doesn't much sour the film.