Cold Souls: Critic Reviews

The inventiveness of Barthes' story is matched by a sense of visual fluidity that's especially striking in a first feature.

An ambitious, elegantly shot, tonally cool first feature written and directed by Sophie Barthes.

The pedantic borrowings from Kaufman are obvious. Is there any other "-esque" to be detected? There's Allen-esque, but that comes with the Kaufman-esque territory. Maybe Huxley-esque? The anxiety of influence hangs heavily here.

The low-key satire would have benefited from more of a back story to Giamatti's character and a clearer sense of his relationship with his wife. But what we do get is compelling in the way of an indelible, dreamy short story.

These pitch-perfect moments, as well as Giamatti's performance as an artist driven to a personal and creative brink, make Cold Souls, if not always coherent, at least compelling.

The movie turns what could have been a tedious meta-movie exercise into a sincere dour farce.

Giamatti works the comedy like a pro, from deadpan to slapstick, but he also delivers pathos.

Giamatti is one of the few guys who could take a joke about a chickpea-sized soul and make a meal of it.

The more elaborate the plot becomes, the sillier it gets.

Giamatti stammers and futzes and self-loathes with the best of 'em, and his endearing persona and droopy-dog face can move the film along even when the narrative can't.

This is a comedy, not a philosophy lesson, and thus richer in bafflement than in understanding.

[Director] Barthes takes her notion and runs with it, and Giamatti and Strathairn follow fearlessly. The movie is rather evocative about the way we govern ourselves from the inside out.

A dark indie comedy that's distinguished by a sci-fi theme and surrealistic touches but ends without a payoff.

A clever existential comedy.

Peppered with ingenious twists of imagination, Cold Souls walks a tightrope between intellectual slapstick and edgy social commentary.

An amusing slice of existential whimsy with an Eastern European bent.

It's comical, yes, but glum and brooding, too, a wintry waltz through acting, underground commerce and metaphysics.

A sombre slice of surrealism, Cold Souls is a welcome opportunity for America's most agony-prone actor to do what he does best: suffer.

Giamatti the character rediscovers his sensitivity, and Giamatti the actor proves he's up for anything. Barthes, directing her first feature, proves she's up for whatever comes next.

You wear a smile right through the surrealist spoof Cold Souls, but leave the theatre feeling somehow under-entertained.

Cold Souls works precisely because its ambitions are somewhat mellow; this isn't a relentlessly high-strung picture.

For those who like comedies that derive humor through absurd situations and dialogue rather than through more lowbrow methods, this film is worth taking a chance on.

This smartly crafted feature debut appealingly capitalizes on its star's well-worn persona.

These are all very surreal, inventive ideas, heightened by the dreamlike cinematography from Barthes' partner, Andrij Parekh; the scenes shot in St. Petersburg, for example, are simultaneously gauzy and bleak.