Megalopolis is a film with a totally eccentric plot, which is carried away at times by certain bouts of madness deviating from the plot in favor of experimentation.
Even so, what it wants to tell us is far from being drowsy, because it leaves us in a conflict greatly carried by Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) and Franklin Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), whose conflict for that utopia leads us to a debate and a very interesting ideological quarrel that leads us to the debate to what extent utopia becomes dystopia.
In these discussions, there are the best dialogues of the film, with a highly Shakespearean language and that handle the anger of the characters in the most human way possible, although I also highlight the internal conversations of Caesar, which are visually and narratively shocking.
That doesn't take away from the fact that there is a certain amount of absurd dialogue in search of humor or exaggeration, but that doesn't fit in this story and feels out of place in a plot that doesn't quite connect between tragedy and comedy.
It's not the only problem in the story, full of holes and things that should be important for the plot, but that they don't want to give the pleasure of explaining, resulting more in an attempt to reach certain scenarios than a real reason to be.
What I liked most about this strange experiment is, coincidentally, the experimentation. It is a film that is not afraid to show new things in order to captivate the viewer, even though in certain moments it leaves us with impressive flashes and in others it remains a rare attempt at particularity.
An example of this is the long circus scene, the best of the film in my opinion, in which we see a mesmerizing photography and a very successful effect of madness in Cesar that manages to transfer all the circus madness to the viewer.
As they use many different angles and ways of using the camera around the entire viewing, especially in the third act where they go crazy in this aspect and with the editing.
A fast paced montage that soaks you in during the constant surrealism that Coppola throws himself into. What also leaves light to the imagination is what you see in the sets, which is to be admired for a self-financed film, full of imagination and concepts that polish that ancient Rome with that very futuristic world without clashing, just like the chromatic world that Cesar illuminates for us.
I appreciate the use of 2D animation at times, which lets us see all the paraphernalia that the protagonist invents without continuing the harsh need to show everything “real” through CGI.
