The Congress (Ari Folman, 2013)

[ianungstad]

Fantastic trailer for Ari Folman's live action/animation hybrid The Congress

[hearthesilence]

Anyone else excited by Ari Folman's The Congress? Everything about this sounds amazing - I can't remember the last time I've seen an animated feature where that mode of filmmaking was so organically and thoughtfully woven into its own ideas.

[domino harvey]

It's interesting that Robin Wright has experienced something of a renaissance in the interim between filming of this picture and its release with her stellar work on House of Cards, but the blurred reality of Wright's career as a movie star still works within the scope of the film. Wright is excellent in what is an at-times degrading role, honestly addressing the hypocrisy of Hollywood's attitudes towards aging starlets (at one point late in the picture she's rescued from a precarious situation by the studio only because she's aged well and that's marketable) while framing everything in a moderately sci-fi sheen before going full-blown Matrix in the last half of the picture. I found the film's first act to be its strongest, but the Max Fleischer-esque acid fantasy land of the remainder of the film was certainly never visually boring, and the film's movement from Hollywood-specific critiques to more generalized finger-wagging at the narcissism enabled by the internet and our electronic devices (there's a great shot near the end of the film where Wright is standing in a crowded subway car and everyone is zoned out, which stands as a pretty clever dig at how all commuters these days go to great pains to make no contact with any other human being not seen through a hand-held screen) is a logical progression, even if I missed the specificity of the Hollywood-track. Overall the film is big on ambition, and while it doesn't quite hit every mark it aims at, it's still an intellectually stimulating and entertaining ride.

[Black Hat]

I'm not sure if I'd call it a renaissance for Robin Wright. It's more of a 'I've raised my kids and gotten rid of Sean Penn so I'm back working again' deal. She could and would have been a huge star if she had wanted it.

[zedz]

It's interesting that Robin Wright has experienced something of a renaissance in the interim between filming of this picture and its release with her stellar work on House of Cards, but the blurred reality of Wright's career as a movie star still works within the scope of the film. Wright is excellent in what is an at-times degrading role, honestly addressing the hypocrisy of Hollywood's attitudes towards aging starlets (at one point late in the picture she's rescued from a precarious situation by the studio only because she's aged well and that's marketable) while framing everything in a moderately sci-fi sheen before going full-blown Matrix in the last half of the picture. I found the film's first act to be its strongest, but the Max Fleischer-esque acid fantasy land of the remainder of the film was certainly never visually boring, and the film's movement from Hollywood-specific critiques to more generalized finger-wagging at the narcissism enabled by the internet and our electronic devices (there's a great shot near the end of the film where Wright is standing in a crowded subway car and everyone is zoned out, which stands as a pretty clever dig at how all commuters these days go to great pains to make no contact with any other human being not seen through a hand-held screen) is a logical progression, even if I missed the specificity of the Hollywood-track. Overall the film is big on ambition, and while it doesn't quite hit every mark it aims at, it's still an intellectually stimulating and entertaining ride.

I'd agree with pretty much all of this. The film's concept never really coalesces into anything particularly profound, but it's full of nice little observations that I want to add up to more. The lovingly period-evocative animation is extremely enjoyable, even if that part of the film is when things seem to go conceptually even more out of focus.

Wright is indeed terrific in the lead, and she's an actor who's never particularly registered with me, being best known for films I find really overrated. It's a role she really needs guts, humility and a solid sense of self-deprecating humour to tackle, and I can't imagine those are easy traits to track down in Hollywood.

So, I don't think the film was 100% successful (but then, I wasn't a great fan of Waltz with Bashir - sorry, Ari!) but it's such an eccentric piece of work that it's very easy to recommend.

(And I did not expect to see two features in the space of a couple of days in which the design and flying of kites was a major plot element!)