The Congress

 

Inspired by  Stanislaw Lem’s science fiction novel The Futurological Congress , Ari Folman's follow up to the critically acclaimed Waltz with Bashir takes a cynical look at the future of Hollywood, creativity, morality, and what  it means to be human.

The Congress follows an alternative fictional Robin Wright, played by Wright herself. Wright has not experienced the same career success as her real life counterpart and is juggling her struggles as an actress with trying to look after her son Aaron Wright (Kodi-Smit McPhee) who is suffering from a debilitating illness. Her agent Al, played by Harvey Keitel, is contacted by Miramount studios who want to offer Robin a once in a lifetime contract. Miramount want to scan Robin into their computers, using a twisted form of motion capture technology so they can keep on using her image in films, even after she has died, in return for enough money to keep her and her family living comfortably for the rest of her life.

The opening sequences of The Congress are a precursor for the mixed success of the rest of the film. There are some intelligently filmed sequences, one in particular featuring the excellent Kodi-Smit- McPhee (The Road), as the severity of his illness slowly dawns on him. Another particularly powerful scene involves Robin, in the motion capture suit, as she is taken through a range of emotions by Al (Harvey Keitel), who manipulates Robin into expressing all aspects of her personality to the camera, as the studio tries to capture all her mannerisms and expressions to be programmed into Miramount’s computers.

There are other scenes however, which are clumsy, and miss their mark. In particular in the early scenes Folman attempts to offer a satire of the blood sucking practices of Hollywood which, whilst highly relevant, comes across as clichéd and a shallow critique of its practices. The real emotional heft of the film comes from Robin’s relationship with her son and it’s unfortunate that Folman does not spend more time with them in the early scenes, especially considering the significance of this relationship to the rest of the film.

Fans of Waltz with Bashir will be eagerly anticipating the film’s animated sequences and clearly Folman’s film grows in confidence once Robin Wright, by way of an hallucinogenic chemical, enters the animated world of The Congress . Here Folman’s film bursts at the seams with energy, invention and imagination. A mix between the Beatles LSD influenced, Yellow Submarine, and the animation of Studio Ghibli, the world we enter here is at once intense, engrossing and absorbing. It is here that The Congress gains momentum as Folman’s characters start to come to life. This is especially the case with Jeff the studio executive who becomes an almost Nazi-like figure, in the face of the increasing power and influence of Miramount studios in the flawed Utopia of The Congress.

This momentum, unfortunately, subsides as the film progresses. The film is at its strongest when exploring the idea of morality and the nature of escapism. However, sadly these ideas in the film are often drawn with brush strokes which are too broad: Hollywood is evil, Technology will lead to humanity's demise, etc. This is a shame, because Folman touches upon some interesting and arresting ideas, particularly when considering societies narcissistic obsession with celebrity, our increasingly insular perspective on the world and our desire to escape reality rather than to confront it.

Equally, the success of Folman’s use of animation in the film is mixed. There are some intensely beautiful and frightening scenes, reminiscent of the imagery used in Waltz with Bashir. Unfortunately, Folman’s imagery can at times become a little twee and over sentimental and some audiences will likely find this alienating and frustrating particularly when the film approaches this climax. Moreover, Robin’s family have such an interesting dynamic that it is unfortunate that Folman chooses to abandon them for a large part of the film. In addition, whileJohn Hamm's performance as Dylan, the former head of Robin Wright’s department, is strong and interesting, the story arc involving him quickly becomes distracting. This is largely due to the fact that it is hard to invest in a character who was never introduced to the audience in the real world.

Overall, The Congress is an incredibly ambitious film which offers glimpses of the director’s brilliance as a visual storyteller, but sadly struggles under the weight of its own ideas and fails to gather all of the director’s inventive energy into one cohesive, satisfying whole.

The Congress will be shown at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 28 August 2014.

The Congress site