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Robin Wright gives career-best performance in 'The Congress'


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Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

The idea of actors being disposable is not an especially new one, made abundantly clear not only in actors' mediums but in the way society treats and responds to celebrities. There exists a symbiotic relationship between acting as a job, a craft and a search for truth and as a symbol for the world's model citizens, its cautionary tales and its SmartWater spokespersons. It is a requisite of the job to fully inhabit the shoes of a celebrity projection. In turn, the person fades as the celebrity reaches the date of their planned obsolescence.

While this concept has been the centerpiece of classic films like "Sunset Boulevard" and contemporary period pieces like the Oscar-winning "The Artist," no film has accurately depicted the simple brutality of fading artistic relevance in the digital age. Many have tried (see Andrew Niccol's "S1m0ne"), but were too ahead of their time to accurately convey a world where actors such as the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Walker have been digitally recreated to plug holes in the work they left behind. Enter Ari Folman's startlingly ambitious "The Congress," a cruel, beautiful, messy epic that takes this theme to the furthest extreme.

Starring Robin Wright as a fictionalized version of herself, "The Congress" throws its lead through the ringer as a major Hollywood studio develops a process to digitize her physical and emotional likeness, promising her a large sum of cash and the guaranteed success of her persona. In exchange, Wright cannot act in any capacity for 20 years and is required to stay out of public, so as to make sure she does not tarnish the reputation of her algorithmic self.

Based on the density of the film's initial conceit, the first half-hour of "The Congress" would have been ample to sustain an entire film. Wright, along with co-stars Harvey Keitel, Paul Giamatti and Danny Huston, give captivating performances that rank alongside their best work. Each scene is wrought with tension as each character's complex motivations are at odds with one another and time proves to be excessively fleeting. Then things get weird, or should we say, weirder. Mileage may vary.

Twenty years pass and the world of 2034 is a chemically induced distortion. Wright, who is now one of the biggest stars in the world, is invited to partake in the film's eponymous Congress, taking place in a zone of the world that is only accessible when on a drug that turns everything into a cartoon. In this animated world, people are entitled to their own version of reality and identity. Citizens of the animation zone take on the appearance of everyone from Michael Jackson to what can only be described as a bouncing baby Hitler.

Yes, this is a very weird movie.

Around this point, the film's narrative becomes nearly incomprehensible and convoluted, perhaps intentionally. Wright, who continues to carry the demeanor of a person from 2014, is as confused as the audience in a world which one character describes as "Cinderella on heroin."

Multiple viewings may result in a less murky perception of what is going on, but the sentiment is clear. Folman emphasizes feeling over comprehension, as the film's impeccable art direction and production design are as precise as the narrative trajectory is blurry.

"The Congress" may not fulfill the promise of its astounding first act, but at least the reason for its inconsistencies are commendable. There will likely not be a more ambitious science fiction film to play stateside this year. Folman's willingness to try and fail after the equally inventive and universally praised "Waltz with Bashir" is ballsy and makes even the more trying stretches of "The Congress" a rewarding and inspiring experience.

"The Congress" is now playing in select theaters and is available on most major Video On Demand services. You can view the trailer here.


Reach the reporter at zheltzel@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @zachheltzel.

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