Ari Folman, the Israeli director and writer of this film, creates one of the most anti-Hollywood and anti-Holocaust films in a while. And when I am saying anti-Holocaust I mean against its use for financial or propaganda purposes, like most Hollywood movies about the subject.

The story is weird, wonderful, but a little (a bit more, actually) confusing. The first half an apocalyptic of cinema's future, the movie continues with a full animated second half in a world where anyone can imagine anything, but produces nothing.

It would be pointless to talk about the story line too much, since at the end of the film I had that dizzy feeling of "what the hell did I just watch?" and that most metaphors just flew around my ears and eyes. Enough to say that the film is really original, well acted, with good production values and fantastic visuals. I just wish I would have understood more of it.

It all revolves around Robin Wright playing... Robin Wright. She first gets scanned so that her persona can be (ab)used by the funny named Miramount studio in any kind of film they choose and 20 years later she is chemically thrown into a world where reality appears as 1930's animation and everything is possible. At this point you realize that the story is not about an actress, or even cinema studios in general, but as everyday people that are actors in their own lives. The metaphors come out pouring in a psychedelic fashion that left me completely confused.

Yes, there are some similarities to the Stanisław Lem book "The Futurological Congress", but one might argue that there were just as many influences from sources like the movie Brazil, or Matrix, or Roger Rabbit, why not? The outcome is not really an adaptation of anything, but a truly original work.

My recommendation is to watch it. After all, nobody fully understands any work of art as the artist intended it. Instead we marvel at their complexity and beauty. And this film has plenty of both.

Robin Wright is a struggling diva actress with opportunities slowly drying up. Her son Aaron (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is slowly losing his sight and hearing as he's treated by Dr. Barker (Paul Giamatti). Al (Harvey Keitel) is her agent. Sarah (Sami Gayle) is her daughter. She sells her digital image to the studio for a big payout and she isn't allowed to perform anywhere else. Twenty years later, her image is popular and she is invited to speak at the Miramount Congress. The world is animated where people take on an avatar.

The subject matter is very Hollywood and not an interesting one for me. It's more compelling for actors and philosophers. It's a bit silly to have an hand-drawn animated avatar. They made that little scene of lifelike avatars example. It should have followed that track. I like that type of outsider animation but it makes no sense for this movie. Also the movie is very slow. The plot is a mess. The acting in the live action is pretty good from top notch people. The movie should have gone a different way.

After his Oscar-nominated animation film Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman did mostly writing work for the last five years, for Israeli, Serbian and even Argentinian TV shows. But now, he's back with an incredibly innovative take on how movie industry will emerge in the coming decades and what decisions actors will have to make as a consequence.

I think the one thing which makes this film so impressive is how Folman managed to link the live action and animation sequences which may have been unmatched in history so far (not that there are too many films that tried it). The film lasts roughly 2 hours. The first 45 minutes or so are exclusively live action and everything afterward is animated (with small exceptions right towards the end). It centers on actress Robin Wright who plays herself in a very emotionally stripped and disarming performance reflecting on her career choices and future in the profession as an actress. While she's clearly the center of attention we also get decent supporting performances from Danny Huston, Harvey Keitel and Jon Hamm. Giamatti, Smit-McPhee and Gayle's parts are too insignificant to really make an impact. Huston, however, has quite the money scene when he, as a ruthless agent, reflects on Wright's career choices and delivers an equally convincing speech just like Keitel when he talks to Robin about his way into the industry while she's in the box unable to continue. Mad Men star Jon Hamm only does voice-work (sorry ladies!) in the animated sequences, but pretty much nails the part as well.

As emotionally investing as the first half was, I had some struggles with the story when the film entered the animation part. They could have probably cut 10-15 minutes there and it would not have decreased the film's overall quality. The Steve-Jobs-reference felt out of place too. But it was still extremely well-made. I have to say I wasn't as moved by the plot of Wright in relation to her son as I would have liked to (except the final meeting of Wright and Giamatti's character which was truly emotional) and as the whole film pretty much turned around this storyline, I mainly enjoyed the brilliant animation without really thinking much deeper about the plot there and it may have been a good decision. It's done with incredible dedication to detail and I believe Folman topped his work from "Waltz with Bashir" with this one. So it was certainly worth the five years he made us wait. Very much recommended and, without a doubt, one of the most creative and innovative movies of the decade so far.