It is assumed I should start, as many film reviews do, with discussing the premise of the film, but I don’t feel this is the best way to begin this review. Instead, I will begin by asking a simple question: If you could get rid of your soul (and essentially all of the goods and bads that goes along with it), would you? Think on that for a moment as I now unfold the storyline and open you up to a tale of self-realization as well as beauty in what can be considered the mundane.
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Paul Giamatti is an incredible actor. His name is known throughout the film world for the class and talent it entails, but even then he doesn’t seem pleased. Everything seems just like another motion in a mundane routine to him. His mind seems to be clouded and he isn’t happy about this. He just isn’t happy in general. He wants to be happy. He wants to feel happy. He wants to feel different.
Through a phone call, Giamatti (who is coincidentally played by Paul Giamatti) is suggested an article in the New Yorker which brags of soul removal after asking the reader if their soul is ‘weighing them down’. This article does not convince Giamatti to get rid of his soul immediately, but after some episodes of curiosity, he finally decides to give this ‘soul removal process’ a try. As a result, life gets better for a short time. Things seem brighter. Giamatti doesn’t feel worried or stressed. Why, he feels nothing! But things are still not perfect.
As situations and relationships begin to crumble around him, Paul Giamatti decides he wants his soul back. He realizes how much of him his soul really is. In the meantime, things have happened, time has passed, and now he can’t have it back. He doesn’t even know where it (his soul) is. He has the want to find it though. He realizes he needs his soul to the point where he is willing to do anything to get it back. Perhaps he shouldn’t have gotten rid of it in the first place? That’s all in the past now. Hindsight is always 20/20. Giamatti must now live with his regrets (if he indeed has them) and move forward. As he learns more and more about himself on his journey to find his soul, he misses his soul that much more.
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This is where I tie my question in with the storyline of the film, Cold Souls. If you could get rid of your soul (and essentially all of the goods and bads that go along with it), would you? Would you do it even if your soul wasn’t making you happy all the time? Would you do it if you felt in a rut and the only way out seemed to be the getting rid of it? I know I wouldn’t. In this film, the soul is compiled of everything that makes you you. Every sadness, every joy, every anger-filled moment, and every loving embrace is built into one in the soul. To get rid of it, you become an empty pot. You are unable to feel nervous or aroused. You can’t smile when you visit your favorite website or see a picture of your closest loved one. You would just sit there, unaffected by everything around you. True, you no longer feel in a rut and you no longer feel discontent, but you don’t feel happy either. To me, it just wouldn’t be worth it. But that’s the soul according to the film. So, in the boundaries of the film, would you really remove your soul?
This dry indie/comedy is deep. There’s no other way to really describe it. Well, you could describe it as unique and somewhat funny, but deep is the biggest description it has. It was very hard to leave this film enjoying the acting and the directing when my mind was fixated on the plot and topic at hand. That’s not to say the acting/directing was bad or good. The film was just so much more than both of those things and it was very well done. I don’t think this film will leave my mind anytime soon, which makes it excellent compared to other films that are easily forgotten. Cold Souls is truly memorable.
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Published link can be found here.
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