Cold souls

To talk about this movie, no matter how hard I try, I can’t get around Charlie Kaufman. It's like talking about A-RPG, "Darkness" cannot be avoided. Indeed, judging from the background of the story, the overhead soul extraction company, the desire to become others, and the endeavor to return to their own efforts are simply [Become John Malkovich] and [Nuan Nuan Containing Light] The complex, even Paul Giamatti’s dilemma of exhaustion is the same as Charlie Kaufman in [Adapted Screenplay] (not to mention that Paul Giamatti is also played by Paul Giamatti) . But all this is an illusion. If Charlie Kaufman's movie is a first-person perspective game, then this movie is more like a third-person perspective. It’s not as attractive as Kaufman’s movies. Some scenes can even make you scream, like the scene in [Become John Malkovich] where Markovic enters his mind, using geniuses. Insufficient and describe the limits of this human imagination. This film is more like a European film, no matter from the language of the lens to the core of thought. For people who are accustomed to watching Hollywood movies, this film is even a bit boring, and there are almost no special effects shots. For science fiction films, even soft science fiction, it is unimaginable.

When a person dies, the human body will lose 21 grams, which is the weight of the soul. The film [21 grams] is just a metaphor, but the film materializes the soul. In the film, everyone has a different soul form. Can beauty and ugliness be judged by human subjectivity? Paul Giamatti was furious because his soul looked like a chickpea. When he went to St. Petersburg to search for his soul, he played with the dinner that was brought before him in the restaurant, a plate of chickpeas, he thought for a while and left. The film’s laughter is roughly like this, it’s tepid, it makes people want to laugh but can’t laugh, and there is helplessness everywhere. This film can be said to be a barely qualified black comedy, a sci-fi movie without a sci-fi scene, a Hollywood movie that looks like a European movie, and a parody of Charlie Kaufman. Of course, as some film critics have said, this film explores existentialism and has high sociological value. Well, existentialism, it seems very esoteric! To be more popular is just identity. High sociological value? Kaufman's [Humanity], [Becoming John Markovic] and [Nuan Nuan Contain Light] are all incomparable in sociological value. Not to mention imagination, any of us can get much richer ideas after seeing the plot summary. This film is such a moderate work, but because of the rational use of Guo Jingming's success, it makes the film look like the emperor’s new clothes, and it takes courage to peel off this layer of skin. Fortunately, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian has the same views as mine and makes me look less alone. "This is a tribute work (even if the director Sophie Barthes doesn't admit it). It uses a mixture of creative theft and imitation to become a comedy of the mean, full of Kaufman's shadow."

The director of the film, Sophie Barthes, said that she specially modified the script for Paul Giamatti, and the two leading actors of the film, David Strezern and Amy Lee Watson, were also introduced to the director by Giamatti. It can be said that Giamatti occupies a considerable weight in this film station, and his wife is even one of the producers of the film. Under heavy pressure, Giamatti’s performance has maintained a consistently high standard, which can be said to be one of the most exciting performances of the year, but one person’s brilliant performance cannot support a failed movie. It can not be said that the film is boring, but the disappointment after watching the movie is hard to hide. The lack of impact, the ambiguous character personality, and a lot of random shots are enough to wipe out the enthusiasm at the beginning of the movie. The first time I met after the edge, I was shocked and angry, and lost the opportunity to memorize the movie for the first time). Perhaps this incompleteness also fits the incompleteness of the thought expressed in the film.

This film supports Sartre's famous saying "existence precedes essence". What do people think? It is the soul that determines me, or my existence produces the soul. What is the soul again? All the talents and talents of a person are the deepest memories buried in the subconscious mind. Everyone in [Nuan Nuan contains light] erased the memory, but could not erase the mark of the soul under the memory. And Paul Giamatti in this film extracted his soul, what else did he lose? It is not a memory, but the lack of certain deep-seated emotions in the heart, such as love for a wife. It was this kind of emotion that he wanted to find after traveling across oceans at all costs. Another interesting aspect of the film is that Giamati wanted to get the soul of a Russian poet in order to play the upcoming stage play-Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. However, David Strezern’s Soul Company mistakenly implanted the soul of a Russian factory worker into Giamatti, but the stage play was extremely successful in the end, and Giamatti’s performance was impeccable. The so-called soul is more like a placebo, filling the void in the heart. When Giamati successfully exchanged her soul in Russia, the soul of the factory worker who had killed herself was truly like the 21 grams and disappeared. In this film, when people intend to replace their own souls with the souls of others, they cannot get that person's body, power, and fame like in [Become John Markovic] and [Master Key]. What they want is the talent of that person, and the so-called talent is actually a hint to their own soul, and has nothing to do with the master of the soul.

Originally published in "Watching Movies"

View more about Cold Souls reviews