Megalopolis

Drama antiguo de un Nueva York futurista con citas literarias de clásicos y reflexiones existenciales, ridículamente fuera de lugar en comparación con la ejecución circundante de la película. A veces sexy, a veces divertida, pero el resto de la duración es estéticamente mezclando estilos de forma vacilante y kitsch pseudo posmodernista, completamente no vendible al público en general. Escenas multitudinarias con decenas de extras, disfraces con motivos de la antigua Roma y escenas digitales como de una fantasía televisiva para residencias de ancianos. Un motivo de parar el tiempo infundado y desarrollado a medias y muchas otras ideas esbozadas que no conducen a ninguna parte. ¿Es posible que Coppola lo considere su gran obra final, en la que lo puso todo? Así como inició su carrera con una larga escena de boda en El Padrino, la entierra con un evento horriblemente teatral para la flor y nata de Megalópolis como en el mega-fracaso de Calígula. Por otra parte, Nathalie Emmanuel hermosa, Aubrey Plaza peligrosamente seductora y Shia LaBeouf la mejor de todas. [Cannes FF] (19.05.2024)

Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis brings us to a futuristic, decadent and antiquely stylized New York, New Rome. I found this combination of ancient culture (clothes, names, entertainment) with a futuristic vision of the world very appealing, and the entire film is punctuated with quotes from ancient thinkers, which only underscore their timelessness in how they still apply to today. They highlight the absurdity of certain aspects of modern times, especially the fact that we are still the same people (animals) as in the days of ancient Rome, we are just playing at being a civilized and advanced society. This is portrayed brilliantly in the film, but that's probably the end of all the pros of this "masterpiece". I should also mention that although my favourite of the entire cast is Adam Driver (who was excellent as usual), the biggest praise should go to Shia LaBeouf, who once again shows something completely new, and proves that he can still surprise. Megalopolis had a lot of potential, a lot of great ideas that deserved to be fleshed out more. The huge disappointment for me was that the main character may have the power to stop time, but he doesn't make any use of it, I thought that would have been much more meaningful or impactful to the development of the film. As it is, the whole thing just comes across as a critique of society hoping for a brighter tomorrow, coupled with a simple family drama without much transcendence, which I find very insufficient. At the end of the film, I wondered if I had accidentally fallen asleep during the screening, that I must have missed something... Or maybe I just didn't understand the whole thing. [Festival de Cannes 2024] (21.05.2024)