{"id":4745,"date":"2014-08-01T04:35:29","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T03:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=4745"},"modified":"2014-10-31T10:02:12","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T09:02:12","slug":"the-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/08\/01\/the-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"The Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Congress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nRelease date:<\/B> 15 August 2014

\nDistributor:<\/B> Studiocanal

\nDirector:<\/B> Ari Folman

\nWriter:<\/B> Ari Folman

\nBased on the novel:<\/B> The Futurological Congress<\/I><\/a> by Stanislav Lem

\nCast:<\/B> Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Paul Giamatti, Danny Huston

\nIsrael, Germany, Poland, France 2013

\n120 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ari Folman<\/a>\u2019s follow up to Waltz with Bashir<\/i><\/a> (2008) is an idiosyncratic masterpiece, highly ambitious in its scale and complexity, and fuelled with dazzling animated beauty. In a daringly intimate performance, Robin Wright plays herself, an acclaimed actress just past her prime with a market value diminished to zero, her previous stardom being long buried in Hollywood history. When her agent, Al (Harvey Keitel), tells her she\u2019s being given one last chance by her studio, Miramount, Robin reluctantly agrees to a meeting, unknowing what this final offer entails. The plan is to motion-capture Wright, to copy her body, feelings, memories, and gestures in order to create a digital alter ego that can easily be adjusted to fit into any blockbuster, TV show or commercial as required by the studio. As part of the deal that promises her both a generous pay-off and the guarantee of eternal youth on screen, the real Robin Wright must retire with no claim as to how her virtual self is being used in the future. At first, she refuses, but family constraints force her to reconsider.<\/p>\n

The Congress<\/i> is released in the UK on DVD + Blu-ray on 8 December 2014 by Studiocanal<\/a>.<\/div>\n

So far, The Congress<\/I> might appear as a vicious, darkly cynical take on the movie industry in the digital age and how Hollywood treats its ageing goddesses. What then happens, however, about 50 minutes into the film, is best seen first-hand. Loosely inspired by Stanislaw Lem\u2019s The Futurological Congress<\/i>, and again combining animation and live action to puzzling effect, Folman jumps forward 20 years to find the real Wright aged and out of business, while her alter ego has become one of the biggest action heroines on screen as \u2018Rebel Robot Robin\u2019. Invited to Miramount\u2019s Futurological Congress, the actress must pass into a strange animated zone, which opens an entirely new, imaginary universe of its own, crowded with celebrity doubles who escape their daily misery through drug-induced hallucinations; it\u2019s a place that visually blends the style of 1930s Betty Boop cartoons and the trippy aesthetic of Ralph Bakshi\u2019s Cool World<\/i>. At the same time, Folman slows down the action to plunge into something darker, deeper, more inventive and more existential than merely teasing the Hollywood system to the core. Soused in gorgeous imagery and surreal, intoxicated melancholy, the second half of The Congress<\/I> meanders gracefully between philosophical, religious and ideological reflections on the human condition, yet despite minor flaws, never loses sight of its original premise. The film is a fiercely original, bold and riveting meditation on the future of the silver screen and the stars that make it shine.<\/p>\n

This review was first published as part of our 2013 Cannes<\/a> coverage.<\/div>\n

Pamela Jahn<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

Watch the trailer: <\/b><\/p>\n