The Congress

"A for effort" is the best I can say here. This fanciful but dour critique of futurism and escapism asks us first to believe that the public will embrace movie stars who they know aren't real anymore, and later that scientific advancement is a finite resource meted out among competing branches of technology according to popular demand. I hate it when important issues I care about are addressed in a way that makes me feel like a jerkoff.

Unpredictable and full of fascinating ideas, bizarre bits and a hodgepodge of influences and references. Thematically, it draws on Descartes, Orwell and McLuhan, to name but a few. It really is too bad that Folman includes everything from nazis to Robin Wrights sick son, though. Had it explored the fascinating implications of the film's metaphors better instead and/or unique concepts such as story casting by one's own subconscious, it might've had the potential to become a classic sci-fi-satire.

I think I appreciate this film more than I really enjoyed it. While I had no idea how the source material could be properly translated to film, this different approach is an interesting way to go and makes for a more personal viewing experience. The animated segment is delightfully vivid and trippy.

Comparison to Waltz with Bashir is unfavorable to The Congress, and probably comparison to Lem's novel as well. However, seen as a weird cross between Water Babies, Matrix and Wall-e, it is impressive. Persisting here is my perpetual problem with sci-fi, that it tantalizes you with an imaginary world only to convey philosophical thoughts, and both are always left half-baked. It's still different, daring, pretty fascinating to watch and has an effective Max Richter soundtrack.

Someone had died and left you an astonishing amount of earthly matters that need to be taken care of. Overwhelmed, and not entirely sure how to proceed you begin by rating this very movie.

The last thirty minutes really made this film for me, as it brings together the themes of truth, reality, identity, and sacrifice together in a strange and beautiful way. But it wouldn't have worked without the emotional weight that Wright brings to the film. I appreciate the surprising ways the film explores the tension between her life as an actress and as a mother. The surrealistic animation works once it becomes clear what's going on, and the transition from one world to another is stunning.

Holy shit

I appreciated this movie more than I enjoyed it if I'm being honest. Definitely not for everyone but there is a lot of great stuff (both big and small) going on in this film.

Ari Folman did a damn fine job adapting the unadaptable. At its highest points it borders on a transcendent cinematic experience.

The film gets most of its points for the sheer originality of the ideas. It's very much about the state of Hollywood and the commodification of its stars, and where all of that might be heading. The animated sequences are totally bizarre, but beautiful and mesmerising. Several minutes after the film ended, I still felt like I was in that world. It's very ambitious, and while it didn't always come together and completely make sense, I enjoyed the ride and applaud the attempt.

On second viewing, Ari Folman's look at celebrity culture taken to its logical conclusion--the ability, via drugs, to become anyone or anything you wish--isn't quite the dazzler I initially considered it. It still has many stunning moments, some great animation, impressive performances from Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, and Jon Hamm, and a poignant strain underneath its surreal surface. But the writing is definitely uneven, with some pretty feeble jabs at Hollywood detracting from the sci-fi.

Even though Futurology Congress means a lot to me and I would have done it differently, I have been waiting for a good Lem adaptation for years and this one is much better than good. It is an interesting take on Lem's story and the animation part was really mind-boggling at times. Although the initial "Woe is on us, the artists" part put me off a bit, the monologue by Keitel made up for that and the rest was one crazy ride. Highly recommended - after reading the book though because it spoils it.

Folman still has some problems in keeping his movie together, but manages better this time even though the movie is much more ambitious than his first one. Unexpectedly great.

A mother dedicated to her son and fighting his illness. An actress reluctantly selling her digital likeness and her creative spirit. A pharmaceutical breakthrough that lets anyone be who they want and live any hallucinatory life they want. Three bitchin' premises that unfortunately don't coalesce together into one whole. I admire the heart and soul that went into this, and maybe it will be a cult classic that stands the test of time, but I am left yearning for focus.

Fascinating film that doesn't succeed at every point, but an admirable, visionary work.

Visually, it's absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, it's a movie about the nature of truth and illusion that seems to have been written by people who wouldn't know truth if it bit them in the ass.

Em honra do centenário de Stanislaw Lem. Achei que demorou um pouco de mais a entrar na narrativa animada, mas uma vez que entra efetivamente nos escritos do Lem a partir do Congresso Futurológico as coisas se tornam maravilhosas, embora demorei um pouco a gostar e me habituar ao traço da animação que de cara não gostei nenhum pouco. BlurayRip RARBG.

A great movie, no doubt, and one that invites repeated viewings. There is something a bit difficult about the timing and pace, however.

What happened here? Why is Keitel so bad? Why didn't the second part explain that the first part was purposefully terrible? Why is everything in this on the nose and yet doesn't make any sense? What the fuck happened here?

It wants to be a thoughtful movie, but I just don't know what I'm supposed to be thinking deeply about.

It was hard to follow in parts. There are lots of interesting ideas being presented, but then they jump to completely different ones. In the end, it feels a bit like a whirlwind without direction, which doesn't always make sense. At the end, it left me with a pretty bleak picture and not much to discuss. So, couldn't make sense of the message, didn't like the cinematography or the soundtrack much...

Like Brave New World, without the intelligence.

Doesn't quite make the philosophical scifi big league but a good try, definitely worth a watch if you're spoiler-free. Gung svefg ubhe ba gur ernyvgl be abg bs Ubyyljbbq jnf vagrerfgvat ohg fybj, gur ghea pnzr nf n pbzcyrgr fhecevfr. N obyq, ivoenag zvk bs anepb-cuvybfb-fpvsv, CX Qvpx, Rkvfgram, Ebtre Enoovg naq Ylapu -fher V'yy frr zhpu zber ba n frpbaq ivrjvat. Fjvcrf ng Fhpxre Chapu jrer cerggl shaal qrfcvgr gurve hasnvearff.

Distinctly less than the sum of its many parts. Film has a lot of things it wants to say and do but it would have been better off just picking one of them, instead of throwing them all into a blender and hoping for the best. There's some artful family drama stuff in the beginning that soon gets swept away amongst trite dialogue and queasy scattergun satire. The Player this ain't. The animation segment is completely jarring, and a mess narratively. Overall it's juvenilia, and pretty disengenuous.

30 Gener 2016 - Bon plantejament. M'interessen els personatges i la situació. Encara que ella és molt hieràtica. En començar l'animació el canvi és massa marcat i descentra. Em fa perdre l'atenció. Després es torna molt boja. Tot i així hi ha coses interessants, curioses i segurament arriscades.

good shit go%u0C66%u0501 sHit%uD83D%uDC4C thats %u2714 some good%uD83D%uDC4C%uD83D%uDC4Cshit right

The ideas are there and what could have been something pretty great falls to a hodgepodge of gibberish. It sure is pretty, though, and it just goes to show that Folman is a master at imagery.

Weird movie... the only part I really liked though was the live action beginning. Once she takes the pill and enters the cartoon world, all sense of logic and coherence are tossed out the window, never to return. Folman embarks on his acid-trip flight of fancy and descends further and further into lunacy. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there were deep and beautiful metaphors laced throughout. But 2/3 of this film was narratively the worst tripe I've sat through in several years of bad film watching.

There's a lot of possibly interesting stuff in terms of themes going on in this film. When it comes down to it, I just didn't enjoy my time with it very much. Way too convoluted and trying to be weird for the sake of being weird.

Fascinating and a talking point, but felt hollow. Reminiscent of Paprika.

I hate it when adult animations have too cartoony/childish style. Film's visual style doesn't fit the themes of the film at all. As a result they clash and draw my attention away from the real focal point of they movie.

Fun to look at, but saying it's weird would be an understatement.

The critique did not bit as deep as it would. The first half started slowly and for the start I did not like the animation part much. I know that the hallucinogenic extension was necessary for the story but I'm not much keen on that kind of stuff. The animation and the story got better during latter half.

basically a ratcheted-up, repetitive rehash of the emotional culmination of season 3 of Louie with a bunch of incongruous, delusional, and desperate self-aggrandizing Hollywood projections thrown in to distract from the vapid narrative ...and poor Wright for enduring this noble roasting for the wrong project (lending a clumsily apt irony to this half-baked meta- fare). the touted animation section is cool, but it is put to shame next to any other contemporary major animated feature.

Visually interesting as well as brutal about Robin Wright even if it's only semi-autobiographical. Becomes very Terry Gilliam in the animated sections and the plot eventually becomes indecipherable as a result. Still 70% simply because theyve taken chances here and I like it.

Rather than asking the obvious, yet interesting, questions this film just chooses to wank around the edges. Tedious.

A little too meandering for it to really drive home its message, but interesting nonetheless.

I don't mind the off-the-wall nature of this film, its confused narrative or even its plodding pace- What I do mind, is that it's just not crazy enough. If you're gonna go insane on a movie, go fucking apeshit says I, and The Congress, despite its abundance of imagination, is just a tad too deliberate and tasteful for its own good. That being said, I can't wait to see where Folman goes from here.

a very interesting, totally hallucinogenic experience...

Hmmm. I think it's back to the source for me - see what Lem was actually talking about...

A mess by design, but a fascinating and captivating one the whole way through. In terms of subject matter, it goes way, way farther than I expected it to, and though I initially found it odd I really grew to like it. It's a head-scratcher, yet even if some of the impressionistic imagery doesn't make sense, it's viscerally and emotionally rewarding. Does that sum up the themes of the film itself, in a way? I don't know. Maybe that's the point. Loved the Tom Cruise "cameo," too.

Clearly I need to see Waltz with Bashir, because Ari Folman makes movies like no other. I haven't quite seen anything like The Congress, a bizarre and daring live-action/animation hybrid on identity, integrity, and free will. It's not entirely successful, often inexplicable, sometimes uneven, and sometimes half-baked, but it's completely original and exciting, so I feel compelled to praise it enthusiastically. See it.

Love the idea, hate the execution

(2nd viewing) A passionate outcry against the loss of identity in the face of technological advancement that left me in a state of befuddlement with its cryptic though relevant animated section. A bold, aesthetically rich and enigmatic piece of work.

A wonderful mind-expending daring drug movie (uhh, my favorite!), certainly with a lot of edge to it. You have here some strong culture critisism and that haunting feeling of an incurably long bad trip.

this movie gets too ambitious at times (especially during the animated parts), it's still an innovative and touching indie movie even though the two parts don't click together at all