Giancarlo Esposito believes that Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” will forever change cinema.
The “Breaking Bad” actor is part of the cast of Coppola's sci-fi drama, so there is a bias, but he claims that, no matter how much it makes at the box-office, “Megalopolis” will have a lasting impact on the medium.
Esposito tells THR: "It is just a brilliant and beautiful film […] I don't want to just qualify it as an art film because I think it's a film that's progressively different and will change the way (many) filmmakers look at filmmaking.
"The elements that he put in the film – like the live onstage moment that happens in interaction with the film – is something that is never been done before."
On first viewing, I’m not sure if I agree with Esposito. “Megalopolis” is certainly unlike any film I’ve ever seen before, and that’s more than enough reason to go see it. I do want to catch it a second time before I give my final assessment on it.
Taking place in a dystopian world, filled with irrationally questionable behavior, “Megalopolis” is either the most expensive “experimental” movie ever made, or a madly epic failure. I’m not sure which category it belongs in.
I definitely wasn’t bored by its crazy vision and the baffling actions taken by some of its characters. Coppola’s film is madly ambitious and staggering in its passion. What was it even about? Was the acting and dialogue purposely hammy? How can Adam Driver’s Ceasar possibly stop time? Has Coppola, 85, lost his mind? It plays out like a madcap surreal dream.
I wrote at Cannes …
There’s mad scientists, magic, corniness, melodrama, violence, and romance in “Megalopolis,” all seen through the eyes of people who govern, the elites — and yet, Coppola is more interested in ideas rather than characters. If anything, it’s these ideas that completely overtake the movie.
“Megalopolis” is visually stunning — colorful and sumptuous. It recalls Coppola’s ravishing 1981 film, “One From the Heart.” He experiments a lot here with an endless overlaying of images upon images. You’ve never seen anything quite like it.
This is Coppola’s attempt to redefine how a movie can be seen and told. Esposito seems to believe that the filmmaker has succeeded in his endeavor, I’m still on the fence.
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