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Empire - Ian Freer | Screenrush Barometer:  |
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'Anchored by a great Giamatti performance, Cold Souls is built around a terrific idea and has serious fun with it. It also marks Barthes as a filmmaker to watch.' |
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Little White Lies - Josh Winning | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'Thought provoking but elusive, Cold Souls' theories blanket any feeling, making this all sadly soulless.' |
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The Sunday Times - Edward Porter | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'This is so much a Charlie Kaufman-type story that Sophie Barthes, the film's actual writer and director, can't hope to avoid seeming a copycat. Undeterred, she delivers a smooth comedy.' |
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The Observer - Philip French | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'It's a combination of the Faust legend, John Frankenheimer's Seconds and Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich, but curiously flimsy' |
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The Independent - Anthony Quinn | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'The film itself seems to inhabit the soul of another screenwriter, Charlie Kaufman, though it's more a respectful nod than a blatant steal. Barthes shows enough wit and daring of her own to mark her as one to watch.' |
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Time Out - Trevor Johnston | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'a slow-burn: witty and insightful, but lacking in thrust when it comes to sustaining its madcap, globetrotting plot.' |
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The Guardian - Peter Bradshaw | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'The pedantic borrowings from Kaufman are obvious. Is there any other "-esque" to be detected? There's Allen-esque, but that comes with the Kaufman-esque territory. Maybe Huxley-esque? The anxiety of influence hangs heavily here.' |
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New York Times - Manohla Dargis | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'An ambitious, elegantly shot, tonally cool first feature written and directed by Sophie Barthes that shows hints of Stanley Kubrick and Charlie Kaufman both.' |
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Times on Line - Toby Young | Screenrush Barometer: |
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'The writer-director Sophie Barthes does her best to keep things moving, but the film runs out of steam about halfway through and Giamatti's pursuit of his soul across the bleak, urban landscape of contemporary Russia becomes tedious.' |
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The Daily Mail - Chris Tookey | Screenrush Barometer: |
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A good idea wasted |
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