Cold Souls

Very superficial and shallow, stuck between big words and the paradox that the film tries to say something about which "no one knows anything", as David Strathairn admits. Barthes is thus in the grip of the same paradox as Dr. Flinstein, portrayed by Strathairn. He is able to abstract material, but he has no idea what to do with it. He is thus left with pseudo-intellectual sarcasm and the truly excellent Paul Giamatti. It's too bad. Perhaps if the film followed an excellent intimate storyline with Uncle Vani's rehearsal and didn't try to make an absurd caricature out of the contemporary world, it would all be more coherent and meaningful. (09/01/2009)