COLD SOULS

It is a dry, existential comedy in which Paul Giamatti is brilliantly cast as Paul Giamatti.

Struggling through rehearsals for a production of Uncle Vanya, a doleful Giamatti is buckling under the weight of his heavy soul. A solution is at hand in the Soul Storage Company where the kindly Dr Flintstein (David Strathairn) arranges to have his soul extracted.

Giamatti’s soulless state is liberating but his acting is now lousy and that’s just the start of his problems in a tale that eventually intertwines his fate with that of Nina (Dina Korzun), a mule for a Russian black market in soul trafficking.
 
Cold Souls is odd and gloomy but the deadpan comedy and introspective musings are engaging and Giamatti’s tour de force is worth the price of admission.

(Cert 12A; 101 mins)

VERDICT 3/5