Overview
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
The Congress sets out a future where live actors are no longer needed – Hollywood will just ‘scan’ the people they want and from there on in their digital alter-egos will do all the work.
A potentially interesting concept, with Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel and Paul Giamatti. Halfway through the movie switches style from live-action to animation, which turns out to be a defining love-it-or-hate-it moment. It didn’t work for me, and you lose interest in a concept and storyline that seems to go from interesting to silly in a matter of a couple of minutes…
There seems to be no point to the storyline once the film goes into animation mode – it is unclear how it works, the purpose of “The Congress” is vague, and nothing meaningful happens at the congress in terms of progressing the plot. Various characters and plotlines are introduced at the congress that turn out to be irrelevant for the conclusion. And actually the conclusion itself also seems meaningless…
A very frustrating movie. Daring, different, some intriguing bits, but ultimately it just doesn’t work…