Inglourious Basterds & Cold Souls

A few words about two films that I saw in the theater during the last two days.

It is fair to say that Inglorious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction. His revenge fantasy hits all the right notes. The film is broken down into chapters. The first chapter is utterly brilliant. It revolves around a French farmer who is hiding Jews and Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) a Nazi officer who is known at the "Jew hunter." The rest of the film is just as good.

Brad Pitt plays Lt. Aldo Raine, an American who is putting together a group of Jewish soldiers known as "The Basterds." Their purpose is to kill Nazis. This is part of the revenge tale. The other part revolves around a woman named Shoshana (Melanie Laurent) who saw her family killed in front of her. She was the only one who escaped. Melanie now owns a cinema in Paris. And she, too, is bent on revenge.

I will not say more about the plot. Most critics like to give things away. I do not (of course I am not a professional critic. I just like to write a bit about film). But I can say that the film is two and a half hours and it doesn't feel like it at all.

Tarantino has done an amazing job of directing his film and his screenplay is smart as a whip. All of the acting is spot on. Pitt is very good as Raine. He keeps on proving that he is a real actor and not just a movie star. The above mentioned Laurent is wonderful and Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger and Daniel Bruhl are all terrific. But the best of the bunch is Waltz. He is in his 50s so where has he been hiding all of this time. I think that Inglourious Basterds has a shot at some Oscar nominations come next year. But I have to say that Waltz will almost definitely get a nod for best supporting actor (and maybe even a win).

P.S. - I loved that Tarantino had the actors actually speak in their own languages - French, German and a bit of Italian. Perhaps the masses will see that reading subtitles in not such a hard thing.

Cold Souls is a much smaller film. It was written and directed by Sophie Barthes and it stars Paul Giamatti as himself. Paul is an actor (yes he is) and he is rehearsing for a stage version of Uncle Vanya. Paul is frustrated with the way things are going. He reads an article in the New Yorker about removing his soul. He decides to investigate because he wants to feel lighter. He meets with Dr. Flintstein (David Strathairn), who is the soul remover. The good doctor is quite convincing. All goes well with the removal. But a short time later Paul starts having problems.

Again, I will not say more about the plot. Cold Souls is a comedy for sure. There were a good number of times that I laughed. But it also says something about our souls - without talking about religion. We need our souls because they are our essence.

Ms. Barthes work is quite impressive. Giamatti is wonderful as always and I really like Strathairn too. Diane Korzun as Nina, the mule brings in souls from Russia, is also very good. Emily Watson, who plays Paul's wife Claire is good in a limited role.

So go out and see these films and help support great cinema!