The Congress Review
By David Kempler
More Confusing than the U.S. Congress
In 2008, Israeli director Ari Folman gave us "
Waltz With Bashir", an utterly unique documentary told through animation. He returns with "The Congress", a possibly even more ambitious project. While it works at some levels, it falls short, quite possibly because it attempts to do too much and as a result ends up causing confusion. Technically, it's up to snuff. In content, not so much.
Talented actress Robin Wright plays herself in an alternate universe, where her career is in the tank. She and her two children live in an old, converted aircraft hangar that is adjacent to a major airport. She has given up acting to care for her children, one of whom is slowly going blind and deaf.
Al (Harvey Keitel) is Robin Wright's manager. He tells her that she needs to do something to jump-start her career unless she is content with it totally disappearing. When Robin and Al are summoned to a meeting with studio head Jeff Green (Danny Huston), they learn of his offer to make her bigger than ever. The studio's plan is to scan her into a computer. From the computer, she will be able to appear in an unlimited amount of films for decades, without having to actually act. Robin and Al appear confused by this offer, but I was shocked that they weren't as confused as I was. Then again, I don't live in this alternate universe.
Robin meets with Dr. Baker (Paul Giamatti) who explains it in a little bit more detail and she agrees to do it. She goes into a type of geodesic dome and is bombarded by a bunch of sci-fi effects. The outcome is later established when Robin is driving in her car. She looks into her rear-view mirror and sees herself as an animated character. The film then turns from live-action to animation. There is a bit of a return to live-action, but the bulk of the time is now spent in a "toon" world. The time spent in that world represents the best and worst part of "The Congress". The best is the animation and sci-fi feel. The worst is being totally unclear. Other than the message of movie studios being in charge of the world, the rest was beyond my reasoning skills. Maybe you'll have better luck with it.
"Waltz With Bashir" accomplished its goal of being on target while using animation. The animation of the "Congress" works, but the message is muddy. Just like our country's Congress, not enough good is accomplished, but at least Folman's Congress makes the attempt.
