Sundance Journal 2009 Day 3: Sophie Barthes’ Cold Souls

Comparisons to Charlie Kaufman’s Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are inevitable, but make no mistake, Cold Souls is truly Barthes-esque. With a wink to Woody Allen and his classic Sleepers. I had the chance to assist in the world preem, (took some pics beforehand in the tent (that is from left to right: Katheryn Winnick, Giamatti, writer/director Sophie Barthes and hubby/producer/DP Andrij Parkeh) and after the ovation of the entire production team). I’m curious to see what others think – but my first impressions were that whatever abstractness there is with the story-line didn’t seem to deter this from being an automatic crowd-pleaser: I’d be surprised if this isn’t snapped up asap and be even more surprised if this doesn’t get plenty of recognition about the same time next year during award season.

Throughout the film I was thinking how a multi-billion dollar industry would be livid by the chickpea value that Barthes’ thoroughly original screenplay assigns to what is known as the soul. Traded by hedge funds experts and the black market Russians — I’m sure the old Greeks would get a kick out of this.

The premise of a lighter “soul” load, the fact that Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti, and this idea of trafficking souls goes beyond fiction, but the brilliance is how the filmmaker manages to normalize the absurd and she assuredly works well in dramatic terms and offers witty comedic moments throughout. Full length feature review coming soon!