THE MOVIE MYSTIC
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by Stephen Simon 
It feels so good to have a movie to write about again. For those of you who have followed this column for the last seven years, please know that as long as films like COLD SOULS are released, I will continue this column, even though it will be on an irregular basis. Now, to the film. COLD SOULS is a jaw-dropping, original film, with the only possible comparison being to ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, one of my favorite films in Spiritual Cinema. In COLD SOULS, the gifted actor Paul Giamatti plays himself as an actor who is having an impossible time connecting to the character Uncle Vanya that he is about to portray on stage. He feels so incapable of connecting to the seemingly soulless character that he must portray that, in desperation, he visits a clinic where souls are extracted and placed in storage. Even though he is skeptical about removing his soul, he agrees to the process because he is promised that his constant inner turmoil will be relieved once his soul is extracted. The soul extraction itself is painless and quick. While he refuses the option of looking into his soul to see its essence, he is persuaded to see what it looks like after the extraction. Whereas other souls he is shown have the appearance of large fruit, it turns out his soul looks like a chickpea! Yes, much of the first two-thirds of the film is extremely humorous as Giamatti explores the soul extraction, then has to live without a soul, then chooses to try out another soul as a temporary replacement. Ultimately, he realizes how empty he feels. He then begs to have his own soul re-implanted only to discover that it has been pirated and sold on the black market to the wife of a Russian soul-trafficker who yearns to be an actress and wants the soul of a famous American actor. She has been told that Giamatti's soul is actually the soul of Al Pacino and is utterly delighted. The last act of the film takes on a much more serious tone as Giamatti travels to Russia to reclaim his soul with the human "mule" who has been trafficking souls back and forth. The woman whose soul he temporarily borrowed was also in Russia. His desire to find her leads the film in a tragic direction here as well. Not to worry, the film does end well. "Original" is way too weak a word for COLD SOULS. The constantly inventive screenplay by writer/director Sophie Barthelme immerses us so completely in the concept of the film that we are absolutely swept along in its audacity, humor, drama, and pathos. From a spiritual standpoint, the film is breathtaking as it delves into our personal relationship with our own soul. The film is very careful, and brilliant, to say very early on that the soul-extractors have no real idea what the soul is and does. They just know how to extract it. This conceit is crucial because it gives us in the audience the opportunity to decide for ourselves the importance and functions of our soul. Paul Giamatti (SIDEWAYS, JOHN ADAMS, etc.) is one of my very favorite actors and it is hard to imagine anyone else playing this role. His restless unhappiness, skepticism, hope, humor, and empathy as he evolves through the film capture us and hold us in his thrall. What would it really be like to have to live without a soul? Or a borrowed soul? What does our soul really mean to us? All these questions and emotions play out in Giamatti's face and body throughout the film. Films that ask but don't answer the big questions about who we are and why we are here are indeed the "soul" of Spiritual Cinema. COLD SOULS will provoke those questions for you, your friends, and your loved ones. What a great gift that is to those of us who have been starved for this kind of spiritual film for such a long time. Let the discussions begin. Stephen Simon co-founded www.spiritualcinemacircle.com. He produced WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and SOMEWHERE IN TIME and directed and produced the film version of CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD. SPIRITUAL CINEMA CIRCLE2012 MOVIES 2012, the first big budget movie on the subject of 2012 was released on November 13 and probably has everyone talking. It's a post apocalyptic scenario that some will view as just another great special effects, end-of-the-world, disaster film; but for others it will sow the seeds of fear. In this column we've been offering alternative films on the topic of 2012 that are more positive and present the mystery from different points-of-view. Show a few of these films to friends as an opportunity to discuss the ideas you've been exploring. The Summer 2009 issue of The Door Opener includes producer Stephen Simon's take on 2012 movies. In the Fall issue we suggested 2012: SCIENCE OR SUPERSTITION as a good choice. Here are two other films. 2012 - We're Already In It - A good documentary on 2012, offers a rich medley of interpretations of the prophecies, and addresses many other signs of potential upcoming events for our planet. The intention is to present immediate solutions and resolutions, taking a very positive approach. Film maker Patty Greer traveled through Europe and around the US asking respected lecturers, writers, and researchers for their perceptions and conclusions. The film offers the most inspiring ones. DVD available online. See www.pattygreer.com. 2012: An Awakening - The 2012 prophecy is more than just prophecy, the mystery goes much deeper than a vague prediction made by ancient prophets and seers. Explore how the earth is in the middle of a transformation that will change the way we live our lives forever. Understand how the changes we see around us, from the change in our climate to the ever increasing war and negative press, is about to unfold before our eyes in and around 2012. Learn the true nature of the Mayan Calendar and understand the workings and meanings of its cycles and end date, and see that not only did the Maya track and measure time, cycles and nature, but a galactic alignment that occurs once every 26,000 years. DVD available online. See www.2012rising.com/article/2012-an-awakening-concious-media-network-winter-hill-productions. EARTH CHANGES There are many movies now being made with the intent of waking us up that don't focus on 2012. Here are three creative movies to get our attention and stimulate us to act. The Yes Men Fix The World - The Yes Men are a group of culture jamming activists who practice what they call "identity correction" by pretending to be powerful people and spokespersons for prominent organizations. In September they printed and widely distributed a fake issue of the New York Post with the headline "We're Screwed" detailing what might happen to New York City. This movie is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks. From New Orleans to India to New York City, the Yes Men squeeze raucous comedy out of all the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet. Who knew fixing the world could be so much fun? Limited area showing in December at Real Artways in Hartford. See www.theyesmenfixtheworld.com. Earth Days: The Seeds of a Revolution - A new documentary chronicles the inspiring rise of the environmental movement in the 1970s, and the dispiriting series of missed opportunities that followed. In the 1970s, just after the first Earth Day and in the midst of oil shortages, recessions and uprisings by restless youth, President Jimmy Carter went above and beyond by installing solar panels on the White House in 1979. Seven years later, President Ronald Reagan took them down. Earth Days gives an absorbing overview of how the green movement got started, and why it ended up where it is today. It features interviews with influential environmentalists. This burst of widespread concern and political action, as depicted in the film, is truly inspiring, and what followed, a string of missed opportunities, is truly devastating. Limited release, not yet available for sale. See www.earthdaysmovie.com. The Age Of Stupid - A film about climate change, but it's not AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: PART DEUX. Whereas the purpose of Al Gore's 2006 box office hit was to shake us from our slumber of self-comforting denial, Stupid is designed to take hold of our heads and smash our faces repeatedly into a table until we get up and do things differently. Stupid looks backwards in time and focuses on the idea that it was our behavior in the years leading up to 2015 that caused unstoppable climate change, culminating in the near-extinction of life by the middle of the century. The characters struggle to comprehend why we did nothing to stop our own suicide even when we knew that we could. The intention of Stupid is to use human stories to illustrate what a serious pickle our species has got itself into. Not yet available for sale. See www.ageofstupid.net. The Spiritual Cinema column is written by Jon Roe, who can be reached at (860) 875-4101 or Jon.Roe@comcast.net. He publishes the Conscious CT website (www.consciousct.org), which focuses on holistic activity East of the River in the Hartford area. The website includes a Spiritual Cinema section (www.consciousct.org/spirituality/movies.htm) with information that supplements this column. |