A fair amount of you are likely plowing your way through House Of Cards about now, with even more about to do so and a dedicated few already finished. Regardless, it’s timely enough for Ari Folman’s film The Congress to let loose with some images considering Cards star Robin Wright provides one of the most captivating performances on the zeitgeisty show, and she’s definitely front-and-center in this movie.
The film is an extremely interesting one, coming from the director of the Israeli animated documentary Waltz With Bashir, which won a staggering amount of awards in 2008 for its uniquely visualized and strongly retold story of war and lost memories. Folman’s follow-up will unravel its story by similarly bold means, as live-action mixes with animation in what is said to be a 70 minute to 50 minute ratio.
The story is an intriguing one, bordering on scifi, but only just so (shit like this is coming sooner than anyone would care to admit). Wright plays a struggling actress starting to feel the weight of her age, who agrees to an unprecedented studio deal that has her signing over her likeness rights in perpetuity. The catch is that a complete digital imaging of her face and body equips the studio to digitally use her however they please. While effectively terminating her flesh-and-blood acting career, it also carries with it unforeseen consequences. This all sources from a short story by Stanislaw Lem called The Futurological Congress.
The film should be complete about now, and certainly has the pedigree to make it into Cannes, so keep your eyes peeled for it to possibly pop up when those line-ups are announced.
Source | Indiewire