Cold Souls DVD Review

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Synopsis: Balancing a tightrope between deadpan humor and pathos, reality and fantasy collide in the surreal comedy Cold Souls, arriving on DVD March 2 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Golden Globe Award winner** and Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti (Sideways) stars as an actor named… Paul Giamatti. During rehearsals for Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” he finds his soul growing so heavy under the weight of the material that his whole life begins to suffer. When Giamatti hears of a doctor who extracts and stores souls, he decides to undergo the procedure. Unburdened, Giamatti’s life becomes freewheeling, easygoing… and more intolerable than ever! He returns to the doctor demanding his old soul back, but a little snafu involving the Russian black market leads him on a harrowing journey that gives new meaning to the term “soul searching!”

Review: There is this certain genre of film that hits the mainstream, but still feels indie.  This new film, starring Paul Giamatti, is one of those films.  Cold Souls is a very Charlie Kauffman-esque flick that follows in the footsteps of groundbreaking work like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

This film takes a very serious tone and has very subtle undertones of humor.  The dark comedy that Giamatti puts forth is refreshing in a world of cliche filmmaking.  I won't give away more of the story than the synopsis provides, but suffice to say that this film is not only entertianing, but its unique.

The DVD special features will include deleted scenes and a documentary about the soul extractor, plus some trailers.  There has been some confusion about the release date, it was set to be February 2nd, but now seems to be pushed back to March 2nd on some places, like Amazon.  Wherever and whenever you find this film, watch it!  If you value your oddball movie collection,  you need to own this one.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars