The Congress

Plot synopsis:
Robin Wright plays a fictional version of herself, an aging actress with a reputation for being fickle and unreliable, so much so that nobody is willing to offer her roles. Her son, Aaron, suffers from Usher syndrome that is slowly destroying his sight and hearing. With the help of Dr. Barker (Paul Giamatti), Robin is barely able to stave off the worst effects of her son's decline. Robin agrees to sell the film rights to her digital image to Miramount Studios (a portmanteau of Miramax and Paramount) in exchange for a hefty sum of money and the promise to never act again. After her body is digitally scanned, the studio will be able to make films starring her, using only computer-generated characters.
Twenty years later, as her contract is about to expire, Robin travels to Abrahama City where she will speak at Miramount's "Futurological Congress" and also renew her contract. By then, Robin's digital likeness has become the star of a popular science-fiction film franchise, "Rebel Robot Robin". Abrahama City is an animated zone, where individuals use chemicals to become animated avatars of themselves, entering a mutable illusory state, they can become anything they want to be. While discussing the new contract with Miramount, Robin learns that the studio has developed a new technology that will allow anyone to transform themselves into her.
Robin agrees to the deal but has a crisis of conscience and does not believe she or anyone else should be turned into a product. Asked to speak at the Congress, Robin publicly voices her views, enraging the hosts of the Congress. Shortly afterwards, the Congress is attacked by rebels ideologically opposed to the technology. During the attack, Robin is protected by Dylan Truliner (Jon Hamm) but is soon captured by "Miramount Police". Still in the animated world, Robin is executed; without coming out of the animated world, Robin is shown on a hospital bed, while doctors, also animated, discuss her case. One of the doctors reveals that when Robin was found, she pleaded with her rescuers to execute her. The doctors decide that Robin is so ill that she must be frozen until a time when a treatment for her mental illness is found.
Many years later, still animated, Robin is revived and reunites with Dylan, who guides Robin to a new animated world in which anything is possible and the ego no longer exists. Dylan reveals that he had once been Miramount's lead animator and had used her digital likeness to make movies for Miramount. The two fall in love, but Robin is still desperate to return to the real world and be with her son. The only way to do that is using a capsule that Dylan was given by Miramount, his reward for twenty years of service. The capsule is only powerful enough for one person and Dylan has no more. Dylan gives it to Robin, begging her not to look at the real him when she returns to the real world.
Re-entering the un-animated real world, Robin finds it in extreme disrepair and the inhabitants severely dysfunctional. Those who are still able to cope in the real world hover over its ruined cities in large airships. On one of the ships, Robin finds Doctor Barker, who reveals the state of the world in which most people have changed to an existence in an animated, unreal world. Hoping to find Aaron, Robin's hopes are dashed when Barker reveals that Aaron "crossed over" into the animated world only six months earlier, when his condition had left him virtually blind and deaf. Because Aaron likely created a new identity for himself in the animated world, there is no way for anyone to find him. While Robin can return to an animated existence, she cannot return to the one she left behind, including Dylan, because that world was not real but created by her consciousness.
Dr. Barker gives Robin an inhalation ampule that will allow her to return to the animated world. Taking it, Robin experiences memories of her son's life, being born, seeing his mother for the first time, as an infant watching his mother act, as an older child being taken to Dr. Barker, as a young adult watching his mother leave for The Congress, finding his mother in suspended animation, and finally taking the capsule that will take him away from the real world forever. The story ends with an animated Robin, having the same appearance as Aaron, discovering Aaron in the middle of an animated desert; it is left for the viewer to decide if the reunion is real or a dream.

Tags: boring, satire, philosophical, sentimental

Review:
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 story is unusual and were genuinely intrigued as to where it will lead.From the moment she agreed despite her reservations (she was not exactly enthusiastic about being cloned although the lack of other offers forced her hand) the story took a turn from which it never recovered.Fast forward 20 years, she goes to attend a conference and she suddenly enters an animated world where we remained clueless as to what was real, hallucination, present or past.
The first 40 minutes of the films are in live action where Robin Wright plays a version of herself who's promising acting career didn't really flesh out after her success in the 80's and 90's while her while taking care of her family and the film industry is revolutionizing itself by using scans of actors to make films.
But it's when the animated section starts that we understand that it's actually a much wider problem we are seeing here, it's not just the film industry but the whole world that is forgetting the true nature of being human and is embracing the virtual world of lies.Although it throws some of its concept on your face and may feel a little over ambitious to some it's an epic journey that is truly a unique experience.
This film starts out with a scene in which Robin Wright's agent (Harvey Keitel) is reaming her out for all the bad movie choices she's made.
The whole scenario seemed like experiments, through the movie it doesn't get to any sensible point, absolutely nothing happens and when at some point you finally start noticing something interesting, turns out again nothing is happening or changing, you just remain with hope up to the end to get disappointed and sorry for your wasted 2 hours on this trash.There were so many illogical and unanswered questions at the end, I think the producers thought it would be fun for us to make up and guess the story in our imagination, but NO, it wasn't fun or interesting at all!!Conclusion - totally monotonous, extremely passive (or boring!) and disappointing movie.
I didn't know what to expect at all and was in for a surprisingly odd visual treat that looks mostly like an animated dream.I'm not sure I want to re-watch this film again (I might get a headache), it was quite something to ingest.
The other, more like an animated Being John Malkovich, less quirky but more poetic and equally self- referential (there's references to Robin Wright's actual acting career, she plays herself...).I could live with all it's flaws, because it was quite an intriguing film.
The characters talk slowly, their expression is almost non-existent, the animation is terribly done with cgi (a lot like the early computer animated Simpsons episodes) and the story is as basic as it can get (an actress sells herself to be animated forever, she goes to a congress and gets stuck in the animated world).
Unfortunately the massive change in direction makes the film seem like two separate pieces of work which do not fit together adding to the problems with this film.I'd give it 1 star if it wasn't for the decent acting and lovely animation, but they both deserve a star each..
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.
A movie by Ari Folman, who made the fantastic "Waltz with Bashir (2008)".Robin Wright plays herself in this weird drama/sci-fi movie that is half live action and half animation.The first half of the movie is awful.
Review: I'm really upset with the director of this movie because the first half of the film was brilliant and then it does a complete 360 when it goes into the animation world.
The thing that was so great about the beginning was that it really does seem like its about Robin Wrights true life because they mention a lot of films that she has starred in.
Anyway, it's one of those movies that are hard to explain if you haven't seen it so I would like to know what other people think once they have gone on this really weird rollacoaster.Budget: 8million Worldwide Gross: $456,000 (Terrible!)I recommend this movie to people who are into their emotional dramas about an unsuccessful actor who gives the rights to her life over to a studio so they can make a copy of her and put her in movies to try and make her famous again.
Director Ari Forman, who won his first Academy Award for Waltz with Bashir, crafts a trippy, fascinating story anchored by an astonishing performance by Robin Wright in The Congress.Wright, who plays an alternate reality version of herself, is a washed up actress who takes on her final acting job, digitally capturing herself for a future Hollywood.
The first 45 minutes was actually not bad at all, that part of the movie is filmed with real life people with Robin Wright playing some kind of version of herself.But then she enters a animation zone (I could explain it but I won't as it would possibly spoil something, plus it wouldn't make much sense if I did anyways).Anyways yeah so then the movie including Robin herself turns animated and it quickly goes down hill.First of all the animations to me are downright ugly (to me at least, I'm sure some would disagree) but the biggest issue I have with the movie is the plot...
Harvey Keitel is a good support, especially in the scene where he talks to Robin about his and her various experiences to bring out various emotions in her.It's a good movie, but with more depth or story, it could have been an epic sci-fi surrealist drama.
THE CONGRESS, directed by Ari Folman and starring Robin Wright, is an intriguing film that doesn't have too much of a coherent story, but presents a lot of ideas about human obsession with fantasy and beauty, as well as chemical and technological dependency.
The basic premise of the movie is that Hollywood (here presented as a fictional company Miramount) has developed a process by which they can scan an actor's likeness and other attributes for use in films without having to actually have them on a set.
The film then skips 20 years into the future, with her attending a futurist congress and that's where things get truly interesting (and quite trippy at times).I honestly didn't have any idea of what to expect when I first heard of this film, but now having watched it I have to admire it for its ambition.
It's a combination of live action and hand-drawn animation that was really beautiful to look at, and haunting in its portrayal of a future society where the business of movie-making has become a literal means of escape from the harshness of reality.
With the structure of Hollywood changing (as well as the way movies are being made) the studio plans to digitally scan and sample her, using 'Robin Wright' in any capacity they choose without her real self ever being involved.
Playing herself but with no work at 44 years old, Wright is offered her final contract, which offers to scan all of her, including emotions, to be worked in unlimited ways in films for the next two decades.Because The Congress is adapted from Stanislaw Lem's sci-fi novel, The Futurological Congress, brain-challenging is in order.
Robin, Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston, Paul Giamatti, and director Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) succeed brilliantly in bringing a palpable realism to the film even as they delve into visionary elements such as animation.
I seen that it was a Sci-Fi film,which is a genre that I enjoy(along with it's many combined sub-genres like Dystopian,Post- Apocalypse,Future,Colonization,etc.),that's often combined w/mystery,thriller,or even fantasy for a brief examples.I read the few sentence movie summary on Amazon,&thought I'd see what I thought of it,being there really seems like I'm finding few films of the kinds I also like to read in ebooks,too.I did watch the flick the whole way through,even though roughly once it had hit the Animation part roughly half way through.It made the movie less and less interesting,more like a drug induced look to the form of animation in it.Which it both made me think that it stole from the movies actual potential for being better,IMHO.Along with the fact that I kept me saying to myself the times we too have sat there thinking in a almost Mantra-like thought(&wish...),"This has to be getting better soon!!This has to be getting better soon!!" Yet by the time this film to me,just,ended.All I could think was,no,it didn't get better,And regretted even the rental fee it'd cost me!Sad but true,LOL!
Granted,if Id have also looked on IMDb,&seen they have this listed also as Animation,&Drama w/this movies genres.It wouldn't have deterred me from trying it,because the summary I read seemed like it would be a decent movie.But,with my likes,&opinions being different from others,which also means w/out giving up spoilers,unless you watch it,you either agree or disagree w/me.My overall thoughts of this movie was that it had potential to be better in the right hands,being the story had some good ideas there and in a lot of places I would have strongly done changes,to have the mix of some animation flow,intermix more-so,to interact better...Just my thoughts,anyhow!!....
The Congress is one of those art projects that are definitely out there, but contain just enough plot, character development and story so as not to devolve into a straight stream-of-consciousness acid tripping – though there's definitely a lot of that present as well.The movie stars the talented Robin Wright, playing a fictional version of herself as she finds her career slowly but surely dwindling as the years pass and take their toll.
Plus a boatload of money, but that goes without saying.The movie follows Wright throughout the years as she deals with the consequences of her choice and with a world that's slowly adapting the technology to digitize and animate pretty much the entire human population.
Loosely based on a story by Stanislaw Lem, the plot here focuses on Robin Wright (cast as herself) who chooses to sell her digital likeness - a decision that has drastic implications when technology evolves to the point that human beings can drink "milkshakes" that momentarily turn them into any celebrity.
'The Congress' is full of intriguing science fiction ideas, the script features some sharp stabs at pop culture and ageism in Hollywood, and the way the characters reference Wright's career and "bad decisions" since her career high with 'Forrest Gump' is great, however, when push comes to shove, there is far too much going on here.
(In fact it was so random and over the top that I thought we were just watching a short dream sequence or spoof sci-fi film the likes of which she specifically said in her contract that she did not want to be in!) On top of this disconnect between the two stories, the narrative thread falls apart in the animated world.
And while the story isn't terribly unique - a tale of rebellion by one person who is looking for something that the new world they're living in can't give them - there is a twist to the classic ending.This won't win any awards, simply because its probably far to avant-garde to be judged alongside any other films.
Though Folman doesn't follow the book to the letter, the main character is female rather than male and the story of chemical dictatorship is changed to that of the film studio running the world, it does stay true to its core.Robin Wright (played by herself) is approached by her agent Al (Harvey Keitel) for a lucrative role that will make her career.
They scan her body, her personality, her emotions, and essentially all that is the aging actress into a computer to use as they see fit and crank out Robin Wright movies whenever they want.
Now, what you're probably not expecting, much like I wasn't, is once the film has fast forwarded 20 years to when Wright's contract is expiring, that the film would suddenly turn into an Acid-Trip.Yes, the roughly 70 year old Robin Wright in the movie is invited to speak at The Futurological Congress and ingests some psychotropic drug that turns her world into a cartoon.
And the balance between the live-action parts with the animation is simply excellent.Some people say that it would have been better if the "Hallucination" parts were done in live-action, but I disagree: The animation sequences (Which make a marvelous combination of psychedelia with an art style reminiscent of the work of Max Fleischer) not only gives the story a proper dream-like feel to the story (Opposed to a dry and forgettable portrayal of dreams as it was seen in movies like "Inception") but also serve as a subtle commentary about modern-day obsession with escapism: It's something admirably subtle the way the thin line between fantasy and reality fades away as the plot of the film progresses, until the bitter reality is finally showed in a rather heartbreaking manner.
In their dream they can decide who and where they are, while their sub consciousness is reacting to a chemical that transports them into colorful, unreal world of combined dreams.Ari Fulman frames his film around the story of aging actress Robin Wright (she plays herself) who, after extremely lucky break, made number of irresponsible and bad choices and ended up with few options.
Robin, who has two children, an ambitious daughter and a disabled son, decides to let the studio to scan her image to be used in all kinds of computer generated films.Some twenty years later Robin drives her Porsche Cayman into a desert to enter Abrahama City, a city where everyone, with the help of an ampule of chemicals, becomes an animated character; some of themselves, some of others.
Still, if you enjoy combination of animation and action, sci-fi and conspiracy, it might just work for you.Directed by: Ari Folman Written:Stanislaw Lem (novel), Ari Folman (adaptation) , Camera: Michal Englert Stars: Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Jon Hamm, Paul Giamatti, Danny Huston and others.
But now, he's back with an incredibly innovative take on how movie industry will emerge in the coming decades and what decisions actors will have to make as a consequence.I think the one thing which makes this film so impressive is how Folman managed to link the live action and animation sequences which may have been unmatched in history so far (not that there are too many films that tried it).
I have to say I wasn't as moved by the plot of Wright in relation to her son as I would have liked to (except the final meeting of Wright and Giamatti's character which was truly emotional) and as the whole film pretty much turned around this storyline, I mainly enjoyed the brilliant animation without really thinking much deeper about the plot there and it may have been a good decision.
It really is dull because of the mess it finds itself in as the film goes on and I did find myself losing interest in all it's fragmented disarray.It really is sad to watch as there was obviously a talented team of creative people which made the great transitions from animation to live action possible.