Paul Giamatti plays himself in this dark comedy about soul transportation. While rehearsing a theatrical Uncle Vanya, Giamatti becomes more and more paranoid that he is unable to connect to his character and will fail the production. He is told about a soul storage facility and decides to go for it: have his soul extracted and stored, until the end of the production. Of course he doesn’t count on the Russian soul traffickers who steal it from the facility for a spoiled, and talentless, soap opera star. He also doesn’t count on the fact that without his soul he’s a TERRIBLE actor. Shenanigans ensue as he goes about getting it back from St. Petersburg.
My favorite part about this movie is the premise. Really? Extracting souls? And the inevitable existential crisis… Even better is what all the souls look like – I bet the film makers had fun thinking them up! For instance, Giamatti’s looks like a chick pea, another looks like a jelly bean, another a root.
Co-stars Emily Watson (Giamatti’s wife), David Strathairn (the doctor of the soul facility), and Dina Korzun (the Russian soul mule) round out a wonderful cast. But the best work of all comes from Giamatti who can go from tormented to almost silly in a matter of moments.
The director was Sophie Barthes, and this was only her 3rd film. People have been comparing her to Charlie Kaufman which is sort of true, but apparently she would prefer to be compared to Woody Allen. In fact, the origin of this movie was a dream she had about him, finding his soul to look like a chickpea!
Called ‘Existential Science-Fiction,’ different and interesting, surreal, fearless, and original, this movie is definitely worth your time.
More: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1127877/
