Starring Paul Giamatti, Dina Korzun, Emily Watson, David Strathairn, Katheryn Winnick, and Lauren Ambrose
Directed by Sophie Barthes
Directed by Sophie Barthes
Admittedly, this movie started out with me not enjoying it one bit. I didn't know a whole lot about it, but I knew that at 25 minutes in, I was longing for it to be over. The story of Paul Giamatti (he's playing himself...the actor) who decides to put his soul into storage in order to (hopefully) become a better actor and raise his spirits starts off way too metaphysical and psychological for me to enjoy. I always hated psychology class in college and once you start getting all deep and talking about souls and all that crap, you lose me. I kept telling myself if the next 60 minutes were going to be like this, I was in for one of my least favorite movie experiences of the year.
But then, something happened. The movie shifted from metaphysical mumbo jumbo to a real emotional tale about a nice guy (that'd be Paul) simply trying to become a somewhat better person all around. When Paul "rents" the soul of a Russian poet, I think he kind of realizes that his life isn't as bad as he thought and he soon longs to have his own soul back (although complications arise with that).
As I let this movie stew in my mind for close to 12 hours now, I must admit that I enjoyed it a bit more than I thought I did initially. Yes, I really disliked the first act of the flick, but the actors (pretty much across the board) were all damn good. I walked out of this saying that I wasn't all that overly impressed with Giamatti, but in retrospect, he certainly carried this movie and displayed a range of emotions while doing so. All the ladies in it (who, with the exception of Emily Watson were unknowns to me) were excellent as well (and pretty hot...always a nice plus, but note that this doesn't affect the rating).
Director-writer Sophie Barthes didn't win me over completely in terms of her writing, but she definitely proves to be a more-than-adequate director. I'll admit that I thought this was going to be just a mash-up of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but as I was watching it, those movies didn't really come to my mind at all.
Sure it's weird and sure I didn't like the first act of the film, but I must admit that I like this movie now more than I thought I did when I left it.
But then, something happened. The movie shifted from metaphysical mumbo jumbo to a real emotional tale about a nice guy (that'd be Paul) simply trying to become a somewhat better person all around. When Paul "rents" the soul of a Russian poet, I think he kind of realizes that his life isn't as bad as he thought and he soon longs to have his own soul back (although complications arise with that).
As I let this movie stew in my mind for close to 12 hours now, I must admit that I enjoyed it a bit more than I thought I did initially. Yes, I really disliked the first act of the flick, but the actors (pretty much across the board) were all damn good. I walked out of this saying that I wasn't all that overly impressed with Giamatti, but in retrospect, he certainly carried this movie and displayed a range of emotions while doing so. All the ladies in it (who, with the exception of Emily Watson were unknowns to me) were excellent as well (and pretty hot...always a nice plus, but note that this doesn't affect the rating).
Director-writer Sophie Barthes didn't win me over completely in terms of her writing, but she definitely proves to be a more-than-adequate director. I'll admit that I thought this was going to be just a mash-up of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but as I was watching it, those movies didn't really come to my mind at all.
Sure it's weird and sure I didn't like the first act of the film, but I must admit that I like this movie now more than I thought I did when I left it.
The RyMickey Rating: B-
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