Here’s the new poster to Sophie Barthes’ “Cold Souls,” a meta, Michel Gondry-like mindbender that stars Paul Giamatti as himself which is good timing because we were going to recently note that the film finally and quietly received a released date a few weeks back of August 7 via Samuel Goldwyn. It’s basically about Giamatti, who in the midst of an existential crisis, stumbles upon a private Soul Storage lab in New York offering a relief from the burden of their souls – he becomes the first celeb to sign up for the process, says IonCinema who seemed to enjoy the picture.
Here’s the longer-form synopsis from Sundance:
In response to shiny, bigger, better American consumerism comes ‘Cold Souls,’ a metaphysical tragicomedy 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,” transporting product to and from Russia, “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 bleak St. Petersburg. He comes to value that happiness isn’t merely the absence of pain, but the integration of the full range of emotion into life. Sophie Barthes’s debut feature is strikingly original, not only for its haunting concept but for its poetic execution. Inspired production design and lyrical cinematography create a melancholic, heightened world. Perfectly cast, Giamatti and a gifted ensemble maneuver seamlessly through shifting ontological landscapes without ever betraying the surrealism. With this dazzling accomplishment, Barthes establishes herself as an auteur to reckon with.
We tried to see this one at New Director’s earlier this year in NY and missed it. We’re curious to see what it brings new to the table of “Being John Malkovich”-like meta-films if anything at all, but reports from Sundance seemed fairly positive (but note, this “genre” could go really bad in the wrong hands of if it’s simply done too often). Just as long as it doesn’t reek too much of Gondry and or Jon Brion and we’ll be ok with that, but there’s absolutely no point in “Malkovich 2” or “Synecdoche, New York: The Return.”
No trailer yet, but here’s a few scenes from the film. The film co-stars Dina Korzun, David Strathairn, Emily Watson, Katheryn Winnick and Lauren Ambrose and again, hits theaters August 7 in limited release. [poster via Cinematical/ more scenes from the film]
