Ari Folman is one of the most innovative and interesting filmmakers working today. His breakthrough movie, Waltz With Bashir, is a sort of fictionalised documentary, as Folma himself recalls the events of the the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre which took place when he was a 19-year old soldier, with he and friends narrating the true-life horrors whilst the events themselves are rendered in stylised animation. Despite the critical acclaim Bashir received, it took five years for Folman to release his follow up, and it's not hard to see why: it's without a doubt the most bizarre post-modern film to be released this year and, despite the appearance of bankable stars like Robin Wright and Jon Hamm, it's not an easy sell. Loosely based off the novel The Futurological Congress by influential Polish author Stanis‚aw Lem, The Congress stars Wright as a highly fictionalised version of herself, an ageing Hollywood star who agrees to sell the film rights to her digital image in exchange for a hefty sum, for which she can pay for pioneering treatment for her ailing son, and the promise to never act again. The film studio continues to make films using her digital self, who stars in a series of hugely successful sci-fi films, and Wright begins to tumble into an existential crisis with about her identity, whilst the world around her collapses from live action to animation and back again, with Paul Giamitti, Danny Huston and Harvey Keitel all cropping up to further melt your brain.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
