UncleVanya Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's inevitable Cold Souls -- with its pseudo-scientific commercialized metaphysics and actor's angst -- will be compared to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich; it's the first post-Charlie Kaufman film, where the writer-director's weird, wooly aesthetic becomes a genre unto itself. Starring Paul Giamatti as, in a blatant piece of typecasting, actor Paul Giamatti, Cold Souls begins with Giamatti rehearsing the title role in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and it's obviously taking its toll as he plunges into sad-sack Russian angst and anomie. Giamatti's agent tips him to an article in The New Yorker, profiling a new service called "Soul Storage," wherein melancholy Manhattanites are having their souls extracted by Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn) and held in escrow so they can live less complicated lives. Giamatti, wondering if having less soul would help him better play the part and get through the day, goes to Flintstein's office to get the details: "Your soul can be stored here ... or if you'd prefer to avoid the sales tax, it can be shipped to our storage facility in New Jersey. ..."

And again, you get the Kaufman vibe from writer-director Sophie Barthes; the dry humor, the everyday acceptance of the ludicrous, the ludicrous nature of the everyday. But while the comparisons to Eternal Sunshine and Being John Malkovich are inevitable, they're also not quite right. Eternal Sunshine was about the messy business of loving another; Cold Souls, with the equally messy proposition of living with one's self. Being John Malkovitch riffed comedy out of celebrity and stardom; Cold Souls examines sub-lebrity and acting. Cold Souls is a beautifully shot film, and it also becomes more than a little bit moving, as Giamatti struggles with a question we've all asked ourselves: Is it possible to remove the burden of our soul without taking away the benefit of it? Is it the very weight we struggle under that makes us strong?

Since the baby descended upon their lives, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard have been laying low, staying out of the spotlight. (Except, of course, for Ms. Gyllenhaal showing Katie Holmes how Dawes is done.) But now each actor has a bunch of projects on the way, and have added a play to the mix.

Variety reports the pair have grabbed roles in an Off Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, which will hit the stage next year. The twist in this news -- they're both grabbing roles, but they're not playing lovers. Gyllenhaal will play Yelena, while Sarsgaard plays doctor Astrov. This means that she'll play the new, young wife of Serebrakov (the 70+ George Morfogen ... a coupling I bet you didn't see coming!). Also in the cast are Meryl Streep's daughter, Mamie Gummer, and Denis O'Hare (the man who watched the infinite abyss in Garden State) as Uncle Vanya. Just to make it all the more tantalizing -- Austin Pendleton (Catch-22, Short Circuit) is directing it.

New York residents should definitely keep an eye out for it, and the rest: head to the Big Apple and make it a Dawes-on-stage double feature -- Katie v. Maggie, the final decision. I'd rather suggest you see Peter and Maggie's short film High Falls, but it doesn't seem to be available on DVD or online.