Director:Sophie Barthes
Genre:Comedy | Drama
Paul Giamatti stars as himself, agonizing over his interpretation of "Uncle Vanya." Paralyzed by anxiety, he stumbles upon a solution via a New Yorker article about a high-tech company promising to alleviate suffering by extracting souls. Giamatti enlists their service -- only to discover that his soul is the shape and size of a chickpea. His intention is to reinstate it once he survives the performance but complications ensue when a mysterious, soul-trafficking "mule" borrows Giamatti's stored soul for an ambitious, but unfortunately talentless, Russian soap-opera actress.
In response to shiny, bigger, better American consumerism comes Cold Souls, a metaphysical comedy in which souls can be extracted and traded as commodities. Balancing on a tightrope between deadpan humor and pathos, and between reality and fantasy, the film presents Paul Giamatti as himself, agonizing over his interpretation of Uncle Vanya. Paralyzed with anxiety, he stumbles upon a solution via a New Yorker article about a high-tech company promising to alleviate suffering by deep-freezing souls. Giamatti enlists their services, intending to reinstate his soul once he survives the performance. But complications ensue when a mysterious, soul-trafficking mule borrows Giamatti's stored soul for an ambitious, but unfortunately talentless, soap-opera actress. Rendered soulless, he is left with no choice but to follow the trail back to St. Petersburg.
Country Date
USA 17 January 2009 (Sundance Film Festival)
France May 2009 (Cannes Film Market)
USA May 2009 (Seattle International Film Festival)
USA June 2009 (Los Angeles Film Festival)
Australia 13 June 2009 (Sydney Film Festival)
South Korea July 2009 (PiFan International Film Festival)
Czech Republic 9 July 2009 (Karlovy Vary Film Festival)
USA 7 August 2009 (limited)
UK 6 November 2009
Netherlands 12 November 2009
This just in, Hollywood is officially out of ideas.
navillushore179 2 years ago
yeah really horrible trailer....
virgozero 2 years ago
It's probably good, but looks like a stupid premise!
dpmduran 2 years ago