Reviewing films on DVD is great. I’ve got the benefit of hindsight and general critical response, to which I can, if need be, take a contrarian opinion. Popular opinion has been that Cold Souls gracefully rips off Charlie Kaufman, as if the guy has a monopoly on unusual, existential and otherwise egocentric stories. Popular opinion is wrong, not in the least because Charlie Kaufman is terrible.

The guy has no internal off switch. When given a relatable, grounding concept – memory in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, creativity in Adaptation – his lack of restraint works favourably, as if he is diving into the endless possibilities of human experience. When his films are about nothing but their own obnoxious peculiarity – Synecdoche, New York, most of Being John Malkovich – it can feel a lot like being on the world’s longest Ferris wheel ride; around and around, with no particular destination.

Kaufman had nothing to do with making Cold Souls, but it’s useful in acknowledging what he does wrong to understand what writer/director Sophie Barthes does right in her debut.

In Cold Souls, Paul Giamatti plays “Paul Giamatti”, not with a wink, but for purely economic reasons. The character is an actor, Giamatti is an actor, so why not cut out the middle man? Giamatti is preparing for a production of Chekov’s Uncle Vanya, a task many great actors have gone through before. But the weight is too great. It seems to be bleeding into his everyday life, and Chekov’s world is a place to visit, not inhabit.

As a solution, he visits a “soul extraction” facility, under the guidance of Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn), wherein souls are removed and stored in cylindrical containers (they look like dried beans). Barthes saves us the tedious scenes that populated Being John Malkovich in which one characters tries exasperatedly, over and over, to convince us of the mechanics of the metaphysical technology; here, the idea that souls exist and can be removed is treated with acceptance. So we can get on with it.

What does having no soul feel like? Giamatti appears lighter, more energetic. He is not tethered to his “self”. Ignorance is bliss and all that. It doesn’t make him a better actor, necessarily. Cheerfulness is not a common ingredient for Russian drama. Soon enough, he wants that bean back, and has to chase black market "soul mules" across Europe to make himself whole again.

Cold Souls isn’t perfect, but debuts rarely are. Barthes moves cautiously through the first act, though when the plot goes overseas, it loses a lot of the wry comedy that made its premise easy to swallow. She has a natural, masterful eye for composition and design, as the world Giamatti occupies seems only slightly beyond our own.

So for a first-time filmmaker to ask the question “what does your soul look like?” and not fall flat on their face is a tiny triumph. Cold Souls is philosophical and ambitious, but unlike the screenwriter that popular opinion tethered Barthes to, it doesn’t end up eating it’s own head.

Cold Souls is available on DVD now from E1 Entertainment.