'Cold Souls' a quirky tragicomedy

Director: Sophie Barthes

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson, David Strathairn, Dina Korzun

Cert: 12

Where’s his motivation? Giamatti, playing himself playing – not too successfully – Chekhov’s

Uncle Vanya on Broadway thinks his soul is giving him problems and decides, after visiting Dr

Flintstein (Strathairn), to put it into cold storage for the duration of the play.

And then it’s rented out to a terrible Russian soap queen.

This, you will quickly grasp, is a quirky, surreal film … but a highly watchable one since

it’s funny as well as sad and always cleverly written and wonderfully directed so that

Giamatti and the hilarious Strathairn get the most from it.

Star Rating: 4/5