Cold Souls (2009)

Taking riffs from Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, here we have Paul Giamatti playing a fictional version of himself, an actor who has become so encumbered by the roles he has performed that he has his soul extracted. Unfortunately the soul business is connected to unscrupulous Russians and when Paul wants his soul back, it’s next to impossible to find. While having some of the humor of those other films, this is quite a bit darker and has little of the frivolity. The acting is splendid and includes David Strathairn as a soul-releasing doctor.