This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

After reading so many complaints posted on the web about the lack of originality in modern movies, one would think there would be a lot of support and praise towards a film that tries to do something different and unique, but it seems that complex (or merely unconventional) narratives are loathed here on IMDb. But then again, this is the same website that gives extremely inflated ratings to a lot of generic superhero flicks. It is also the only website where a show like "Mr. Pickles" could be rated so high.Anyway, "The Congress" is a wonderful film. Of all the movies that combined live-action with animation through the history of cinema, this might be my favorite. Plot-wise, "The Congress" might be closer to movies like "Inland Empire" rather than "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". And the balance between the live-action parts with the animation is simply excellent.Some people say that it would have been better if the "Hallucination" parts were done in live-action, but I disagree: The animation sequences (Which make a marvelous combination of psychedelia with an art style reminiscent of the work of Max Fleischer) not only gives the story a proper dream-like feel to the story (Opposed to a dry and forgettable portrayal of dreams as it was seen in movies like "Inception") but also serve as a subtle commentary about modern-day obsession with escapism: It's something admirably subtle the way the thin line between fantasy and reality fades away as the plot of the film progresses, until the bitter reality is finally showed in a rather heartbreaking manner. Like at the end of "Waltz with Bashir", when the animation changes into live-action, we as viewers are forced to confront a harsh reality that cannot be ignored, and that reality is that living with our backs turned to the problems of today only will have dire consequences in the future, and we will have to deal with those consequences in one way or another. I guess that a message like that could be hard to swallow for many viewers, but I personally think that in this day and age, a message like that it's more necessary than ever.I hope "The Congress" gets eventually vindicated by history. Maybe in the future, people will be able to appreciate more its daring qualities. For now at least, the future of cinema seems bleak, with all the same generic stuff making billions at the box office while the actually challenging movies are perpetually ignored. A shame, really.

This is an email review: Dear Milgro, just saw an incredible half animation film at the Budapest Israeli film week that I need to tell a film savvy person like yourself, about -- while it is still fresh in my mind. Name of Film "The Congress" -- or "The Futurological Congress" (2013), directed by an Israeli, Ari Folman, but having nothing else Israeli about it. In fact it stars actress Robin Wright and an elderly looking Harvey Keitel (now 75?) plus other Hollywood actors and is all set in Southern California ~ language English --with Hungarian subtitles -- (which I had to rely on half of the time because I left my hearing aid home!)Anyway, what is so unusual about this film is that about halfway through, after an inter-title saying "Twenty years later" it abruptly launches into highly stylized and imaginative Animation -- like Disney on LSD -- and stays that way for the whole second half of the film! -- which seems endless because it is so taxing on the imagination, but nevertheless starkly beautiful as far as the animation imagery is concerned -- grotesquely beautiful at times -- but so jaw-dropping and eye-popping that it truly reminded me of some of the LSD trips I took myself in the Bad Olde days of the psychedelic sixties --- Middle-aged Actress Robin Wright I had never seen before but was vaguely aware of the fact that she was once married to Sean Penn-- a personality I personally detest -- and Keitel, one of my fave actors, was only in it for a while at the beginning, as Robin's agent trying to cut a deal for her to make a comeback, with a sleazy producer at the "Miramount" film Studio, and gives a only a pale imitation of his former dynamic tough guy self, recognizable mainly because he still uses the the F word in every other sentence. Wright, playing herself directly as an over the hill star actress, 44, but still making strong professional demands, became increasingly interesting as the film went on -- playing incidentally on references to the Wright Brothers first heavier than air flight in 1908. Much of it takes place at some kind of informal airbase out in the desert where her terminally ill son flies kites endangering the landing of real planes and is obsessed by the Wright brothers first primitive aircraft --- but when it goes to animation and Wright is shown as a green eyed living cartoon avatar of herself it really goes to town and becomes something else altogether -- kind of jaw dropping without fully understanding what is going on -- (like an acid trip) -- all of which finally made sense when I noticed in the copious end credits that the whole thing was based on a story by Polish Sci-Fi genius Stanislaw Lem -- who also wrote another mind-bender, "Planet Solaris" (filmed in Russian by Tarkovsky in 1972) The title refers to the second half of the picture wherein actress Wright is driving serenely through the desert in an open late model car and suddenly comes to a gate in the middle of the road where a Guard in uniform bars her way but offers her the option of driving on if she is willing to attend the Futurological New Technology World Congress that is going on just beyond the gate. This she agrees to and presently enters a Parallel Universe of psychedelic hallucinations that takes over the entire second half of the movie. There she will re-encounter people she has lost track of including her son who died, and she herself will die but be reborn. Intimations of Immortality! This amazing picture was premiered at Cannes in 2013. Just wondering if you have ever heard anything about it. At Toronto or elsewhere. Anyway, good buddy -- This was one of the most unusual films I have ever seen, but I am rather a big fan of the kind of semi-realistic hallucinatory animation that was employed non-stop in Part 2 -- so, la-dee-dah. It would make one helluvan evening's entertainment as a double feature: "The Congress"with "Planeta Solaris" (the Tarkovsky edition). BTW: it was partly a Chien-Loup production -- a company that takes on projects others wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Alex, Budapest December 7, 2016. Give it Eight stars and two tabs of white Ousley.

I got "the Congress" while looking for anime and what a stunning surprise it was. Visually stunning, well worked out characters and a very actual topic that raises questions about being and the power of pharmaceutics and media companies over people. But also about loss and making important choices. Now I admit that the start of the movie is a bit weak, flying kites (return theme) near an airport fence...well OK. The discussion about and the scanning, a bit long. But then the movies sets of... The graphics are a psychedelic trip like "yellow submarine" from the Beatles. You get confused on what is real and what is the relation is, until it all comes together...worth watching again

Contemporary Criticism of any given Contemporary Subject is usually Fraught with Half-Realizations and Wild Prognostications of said situations. In this one, the Digital Entertainment World Siphoning off the Souls of the Animate, Pharmaceutical Masking, Socialism, Fascism, Escapism, and Multiverse. It's all Thrown in a Blender Spiced Up with this and that and Pureed into a Barely Digestible Combination of Incoherence and Incomprehensibility. The Long Story's Plot is Divided, Diverted, and makes about as much Sense as a Psychedelic Experience. Flashes of Insight that are Difficult to Adhere and Retain. A Beautiful Landscape of Ultra-Colorful Images and Distortions Displayed Rapid Fire.The Animation Sequences are of Fleischer Studios and Peter Max with Dashes of just about Every other Style from Twentieth Century Cartoons and Artists. It is a Mind-Boggling Bent of Glimpses from the Past. This all takes Place in the Future and Careens Onward in Twenty Year Quantum Leaps.It is an Ambitious Concept that has Robin Wright Playing Robin Wright and as a Digital and Organic Link making a Deal with the Devil (Hollywood). The Movie Borrows many Concepts but Fails to make much of the Dreamy Insights and Philosophies.The final Result is a Stunning Looking Stew, Half-Baked and all of those Tasty Ingredients are Served in a Pretty Presentation with Style, but the Consistency is Lacking and in the End it is just too much and Spoils the Experience that Reaches for the Profound but ultimately Lacks a Clarity.