Cold Souls (2009)

Paul Giamatti is playing “Paul Giamatti” as he struggles with finding a character he’s rehearsing. He hears about Soul Storage and thinks it may be the answer to his ennui. Basically, most of the soul is extracted and stored so that one can get on with living life without the pesky weight and potential darkness of a soul. But soullessness can be its own kind of pressure. Good thing there’s a soul catalogue through which you can rent the soul of anonymous donors!

This is a pretty out-there concept. In the words of Stefan: this movie has it all: soul-smuggling, shady contracts, misplacements and so. much. angst. That’s not to say it isn’t good and, as a matter of fact, I think it is. But there’s no resolution (how could there really be?) so it remains an interesting concept without a destination.

C+