The congress

It's kind of hard to review or even properly critizise that wich you don't fully understand.

Most of the time, I watch simple movies. Not stupid, but simple movies about people and their emotions and convictions portrayed in a somewhat graspable fashion. The, sometimes, I see a movie that goes beyond my intellect.
At first I thought that The congress was such a movie. In the middle I got so confused with this world that was being created on the screen that I actually lost touch for a while, but at the end I understood why I got so confused.

The congress is about an actress (Robin Wright as a somewhat fictional version of her self) that is at the end of her career. She doesn't make any movies and hasn't for a long time. All she cares about is taking care of her sick son. Miramount (Miramax/Paramount) offers her one last contract. She agrees to let computers create a digital clone of her that will continue to appear in movies, but never grow old and never say no. She will greatly compensated but she, the real Robin, can never act again.

This is where the movie goes bananas.

20 years later, Robin attends the futurist congress, wich is being held in the animated zone. A place in wich you must inhale a chemical that gives you the illusion of being animated (apparently it'll be all the rage in the future). She will be there as one of the first actors/actresses that ever did this and she will become the first ever actress that you can become. Weird, I know. The idea is that you will consume a chemical that gives you the impression of being Robin Wright.
At the same time, there is a revolution going on. A bunch of people are angry at Miramount, who has moved away from film and has become some sort of megacorp that deals in theese chemicals, for some reason. In the middle of this revolution Robin meets Dylan. He turns out to be the animator who has been animating Robin for the last 20 years. He is madly in love with her. At the same time the world keeps changing around her and these animated hallucinations takes over the real world. And in this crazy world, Robin is trying to find her son.

As you can see there is a lot going on 7n this movie.
At first, it all moves along at a sensible pace, but as soon as the animated world is introduced the movie rushes of and a lot of concepts are introduced without getting a proper explanation. This made me lose focus and ultimately interest. Sure the animations are amazing in a retro, hand drawn way, but the script gets lost and when it slows down my care for the characters and their struggles had diminished gravely.

In the end, The congress becomes to much of a effects driven spectacle. Wich proves that any director can screw up if given to much money.

The congress touched on a lot of heavy subjects such as free will or rather the illusion of it but never really makes a statement in the matter. It is more concerned with pretty pictures, a problem you rarely encounter in theese kind of "smaller films".

But I did say to you that I didn't fully understand this movie. Maybe I missed something vital. Maybe this is the movie of the century and I just didn't get it, it certainly aspires to be that, so it is up to you yo watch this movie and make up your own mind. Don't let me tell you what to think of this movie, make your own decision.

Use your free will...