Sin #25: Existentialism for Dummies

Sometimes the pressure is simply overwhelming; the pressure of a stressful job or a messy relationship can lead to an endless depression. Undoubtedly, our souls seem to be a heavy burden from time to time.

Take the actor Paul Giamatti, for example; he’s stuck in a role he can’t seem to break and feels the weight of his soul crushing on him. One day he finds a curious article on the New Yorker about a company that stores souls; surely it has to be a joke, right?

He’s intrigued and decides to pay them a visit. Next thing he knows, he is walking the streets of New York City without a soul. He feels strange and rather hollow but he no longer is depressed. His soul is stored in a locker and looks like a peanut inside a vase. When he is bored of being soulless he decides he wants to have his own back, except that it has been stolen by a Russian contraband agency who wanted the soul of an American actor, someone like Al Pacino or Johnny Depp; Giamatti’s will do, though.

“Cold Souls” has a plot very much inspired by the work of Charlie Kauffman who wrote “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”.

In “Eternal Sunshine…” there’s a company that deals in erasing memories. For Joel (Jim Carrey) it seems the perfect way to get over Clementine (Kate Winslet) since she went to the company first to get over him.

Both movies could be considered existential dramas since they make us wonder about the human condition without detailing the technical procedures of their own gimmicks. Both transgress realities without becoming quite science fiction genre pieces and resort to fantastical elements that the audience must simply accept.

The brilliance of Kauffman’s writing is that he introduces relatable characters in a state of depression or existential crisis and offers a glimmer of hope for them, at the end they find themselves closer to happiness than ever before (except for Kauffman’s directorial debut “Synecdoche, New York” that is one painful and depressing ride).

Still one has to handle it to him, Charlie (with help of his imaginary twin brother Donald) knows quite a bit about the human condition.