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The Congress

Play trailer Poster for The Congress Released Aug 29, 2014 2h 2m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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71% Tomatometer 108 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
An aging actress agrees to preserve her digital likeness for a studio to use in any future films it likes.
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The Congress

The Congress

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Critics Consensus

The Congress rises on the strength of Robin Wright's powerful performance, with enough ambitious storytelling and technical thrills to overcome its somewhat messy structure.

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Critics Reviews

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Samuel B. Prime Slant Magazine The Congress is part live action and part Ralph Bakshi fever dream, but all nightmare. It paints a vision of the future where individuality and anything resembling free will is supplanted by delicious chemical cocktails and a candy-coated reversal. Sep 24, 2019 Full Review Paul Byrnes Sydney Morning Herald The weighty ideas are welcome, but Folman dumps them on us in bucketfuls of alphabet soup. Rated: 3/5 Dec 3, 2014 Full Review David Denby New Yorker The anger drains out of the picture, and we watch in a state of passive appreciation and indifference. Sep 5, 2014 Full Review JD Duran InSession Film The Congress isn’t for everyone but the animation is beautiful and the ideas that this film raises is provocative. Robin Wright carries the film well and overall, this is a film we’d recommend. Rated: A- Aug 19, 2024 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia Folman maintains an intelligible tone that is terrifyingly prophetic in exploring the impact of AI on actors, but unfortunately, his sci-fi dystopia loses its witty effect during the hallucinogenic and surreal animated journey. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 6/10 Apr 10, 2024 Full Review Giuseppe Sedia Kino Mania The Congress is anything but banal as a reflection on acting in digital age. Nevertheless, the hard landing Folman bludgeoned audiences with in his previous movie is certainly more striking and profound than the hybrid, dreamlike pillow offered [here] Rated: 2/5 Mar 8, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (295) audience reviews
mor c Me malviaje y ni siquiera consumo Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/29/24 Full Review Bryan P Harvey Keitel is no good in this, but its brief. Aside from that and maybe a few other goofy things that if you question too hard it ruins everything... this movie rules. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/12/24 Full Review Orin D I read Lem's SciFi masterpiece long ago and admired it greatly. This mishmash of live action and boring animation does the book a great disservice. Some fine acting talent is wasted is this debacle. My wife made us watch it until the end, which I thought would never arrive. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 06/11/24 Full Review Alec B The film has some great and original concepts about the future of imagery and society but doesn't really develop them or the characters clearly enough. Honestly for this to have worked and be truly immersive, the whole thing would need to be around 4 hours long. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/13/23 Full Review Jim M The first half of this movie was pretty good but left me thinking "what are they going to do in the second half". Well, they decided to ruin the movie with animated, drug-induced bullshit. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/12/23 Full Review Anne G Robin Wright, as Robin Wright is an aging actress who is coerced into signing contract to own her complete digital likeness and presents so movies can be made without her using AI. She also has a son and daughter. She goes about her life after signing her likeness away, then a new technology comes along, making AI movies, irrelevant. Basically, then if people take drugs, they can be an experience anything so she is now going to be marketed as a drug. She goes to the Congress and becomes animated and stuck in an animation. It's pretty trippy and weird, then later is frozen and 40 years past. Eventually, she finds a way to become an animated to go back to a world, which is basically medicated, homeless people shuffling around , ultimately, she finds a way to find her son and it is pretty touching and I think I actually shut a tear at one point. I thought this was incredibly relevant today on the topic of AI and also very thought-provoking. The zombification of humanity through endless entertainment. This movie had a pretty profound effect on me and what made me want to go outside and being nature and daylight and live free of digital and screen stuff so I took a spiritual screen cleanse immediately after this movie for several days. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis An aging actress agrees to preserve her digital likeness for a studio to use in any future films it likes.
Director
Ari Folman
Producer
Reinhard Brundig, Sébastien Delloye, Piotr Dzięcioł, Diana Elbaum
Screenwriter
Ari Folman
Distributor
Drafthouse Films
Production Co
Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Liverpool Co., Ltd., ARP Sélection, Pôle Image de Liège, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Pandora Filmproduktion, Luxembourg Film Fund, Bridgit Folman Film Gang, France 2 Cinéma, MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA), Cinéfinance Tax Shelter, Cinemorphic, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone (RTBF), Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej, ARD Degeto Film, Sikhya Entertainment, Opus Film, Canal+ Polska, Channel 10, Israel Film Fund, Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF), Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Belgacom, Paul Thiltges Distributions, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Instytucja Filmowa Silesia-Film, Casa Kafka Pictures Movie Tax Shelter Empowered by Belfius, Entre Chien et Loup
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 29, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$137.8K
Runtime
2h 2m
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