Cold Souls - Region 2 DVD

That said, Giamatti does have the luxury of playing himself in Cold Souls. More to the point, he plays a Paul Giamatti who’s having trouble controlling his angst over an upcoming performance as Uncle Vanya. The solution he hatches? He seeks out a company whose job is to extract souls and trade them for a living. Thus, his soul is removed, with the plan being to put it back once the performance is done with. Which is a fine plan, until his soul ends up in someone else instead.

Cold Souls is a film not a million miles away from the feel of something like Being John Malkovich, albeit one capable of securing an identity of its own. It’s a bit of a bumpy road at times, and arguably the end product doesn’t fully utilise the potential of the concept. Yet it has plenty to recommend it still, most notably Giamatti’s outstanding central performance. At worst, Cold Souls is an intriguing and interesting film, that treads a different path to most. It’s also one that’s very worth checking out, too. --Jon Foster