The opening shot of Ari Folman’s (Waltz With
Bashir) The Congress is the single best part of
the movie. Harvey Keitel’s silver-tongued Hollywood agent Al talks off screen
while the camera focuses solely on Robin Wright (The Princess
Bride). Playing a version of herself—that is, an actress named Robin
Wright—the long take is nothing but her reactions. It’s like she’s giving a
demonstration of how to act. There’s nothing huge, every move is so subtle that
you almost miss them, but she conveys an incredible range of emotion and
feeling. She’s mesmerizing, and from this moment on all you want is to watch
her to see what she does next. The problem with this live-action/animation
hybrid is that it is a slow, steady downhill slide from this beginning.
