Le congrès

Greetings again from the darkness. As a fan of director Ari Folman's Oscar nominated Waiting for Bashir (2008), I was excited to see this one on the line-up at Dallas International Film Festival. While some will find The Congress a bit messy and difficult to follow, it certainly reinforces Folman's innovative and creative approach to story telling and filmmaking.

The first half of the movie is live action and the second half is animated. The best description I can offer is as a social commentary, not just on Hollywood, but society. While "Her" makes the case for virtual relationships, this movie makes the case for virtual everything else! Robin Wright plays Robin Wright, an aging movie star who is offered a chance to stay young and be popular forever. Just sign this contract, and Miramount Studios owns your complete public image. No more acting, just kick back and enjoy your money ... and watch what we do with your image and career.

The cast is very strong, but the movie has a feeling of having been rushed through production ... at least from the live action side. In addition to Ms. Wright, Danny Huston chews some scenery as a cut throat studio head. His blunt description of Ms. Wright's "bad choices" since The Princess Bride speak to not only many actors, but for many in the audience as well. Harvey Keitel plays the agent, Jon Hamm appears through voice only in the animated sequence, Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, The Road) plays Wright's son and central plot figure, and Sami Gayle plays his sister.

Some will be reminded of A Scanner Darkly, and others of Cool World. The best this movie has to offer is not in its (creative) presentation, but rather in its ability to provoke thought about the look of future society and the impact of technology ... as well as the whole issue of identity and what makes us who we are. It's a brain-scrambler if you stick with it.

The movie itself is a metaphor for some of the new trends that are happening around us. It makes a hinted implicit discussion about things like the Internet culture (avatars, virtual life), Intellectual Properties, rights, freedom, terrorism, capitalism, life extension. The movie is deep and few people can really get to the bottom of it and get the messages. My wife for example, got out from the movie unable to explain it. I, on the other hand, thought that the messages in the movie were powerful. It reminded me for moments "Vanilla Sky" and the "Matrix" though a bit different. The animation seems deliberately hand made and old (as Disney's movies) and I believe this is yet another critique about the cutting-edge Pixar computerized movies, made by hundreds of people and co-producers that shape up each character (which is an owned intellectual property). Producing this movie was a bold and brave move – it may get mixed critique from the intelligent, and might be mocked by the superficial crowd, but I say it is brave and brilliant!

Ari Folman, the Israeli director and writer of this film, creates one of the most anti-Hollywood and anti-Holocaust films in a while. And when I am saying anti-Holocaust I mean against its use for financial or propaganda purposes, like most Hollywood movies about the subject.

The story is weird, wonderful, but a little (a bit more, actually) confusing. The first half an apocalyptic of cinema's future, the movie continues with a full animated second half in a world where anyone can imagine anything, but produces nothing.

It would be pointless to talk about the story line too much, since at the end of the film I had that dizzy feeling of "what the hell did I just watch?" and that most metaphors just flew around my ears and eyes. Enough to say that the film is really original, well acted, with good production values and fantastic visuals. I just wish I would have understood more of it.

It all revolves around Robin Wright playing... Robin Wright. She first gets scanned so that her persona can be (ab)used by the funny named Miramount studio in any kind of film they choose and 20 years later she is chemically thrown into a world where reality appears as 1930's animation and everything is possible. At this point you realize that the story is not about an actress, or even cinema studios in general, but as everyday people that are actors in their own lives. The metaphors come out pouring in a psychedelic fashion that left me completely confused.

Yes, there are some similarities to the Stanisław Lem book "The Futurological Congress", but one might argue that there were just as many influences from sources like the movie Brazil, or Matrix, or Roger Rabbit, why not? The outcome is not really an adaptation of anything, but a truly original work.

My recommendation is to watch it. After all, nobody fully understands any work of art as the artist intended it. Instead we marvel at their complexity and beauty. And this film has plenty of both.

The Congress is a one of a kind movie, directed by Ari Folman, the same genius who brought us Waltz with Bashir. I personally really enjoyed it even though I found it a bit messy at times.

The story evolves around Robin Wright, the famous actress we all know and who is playing here, her own self. Obviously, even though, she is playing herself, this movie only borrow facts from her life, it is not autobiographical...at all. Of course, Robin Wright is getting older and is not anymore the young & innocent actress we remember from The Princess Bride. Apart from these small facts, the story doesn't match Robin Wright's life. In this parallel world, she is an aging actress on the way of being forgotten, who is getting less and less movie offers, and who needs to take care of a sick little boy at home. Feeling powerless against the passing time, she decides to sell her body image to a film studio in order to remain young forever and come back to a more successful movie career. Then, starts an amazing journey in a colorful and unique universe that is shown through animation. But, of course, it is not only flowers and butterflies since, Robin Wright has very little control over her young, animated self.

The up side of this animation is that it is limitless since it helps creating a crazy universe with splendid creatures, brilliant scenery... it all seems very magical. On the other hand, I feel like this "other world" is pushed maybe a little bit too far, and it can confuse the spectator.

However, this movie passes quite powerful messages about existentialism, being part of a corporation, being dependent of your body image and most of all, it shows, metaphorically of course, what could be the future of the movie industry.

All in all, even though it has some flaws, I highly recommend The Congress, it leads you to a unique and unforgettable journey, and I think you'll remember this movie for a while.

The Congress, Ari Folman's film based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem (The Futurological Congress) - follows five years after Folman's equally inventive and thought provoking Waltz with Bashir. Like Waltz... The Congress also combines animation with live action footage to great dramatic effect, propelling the viewer into an increasingly psychedelic other-world that presents huge challenges to Robin Wright's state of mind. She is playing an alternate univers-ion of herself, and is surrounded by a very fine cast including Harvey Keitel; Paul Giamatti; Jon Hamm; and Danny Huston (a stand out) who are joined by Kodi Smit-McPhee (still to cast off the ineffectuality of Let Me In) and Sami Gayle. The Congress is a bold attempt to visualise what clearly must be a challenging novel. There is a lot to admire in the attempt, including some good performances, grand animation and an effective score, again by contemporary composer Max Richter. It's a pity that The Congress did not find a bigger audience, since Folman is a very interesting filmmaker, clearly not afraid to take on what must be difficult projects. His next film should be eagerly awaited.