Invisible City (Cidade Invisível) is a crime-fantasy TV series directed by Luis Carone and Júlia Pacheco Jordão and starring Marco Pigossi, Jessica Cores, Alessandra Negrini and Manuela Dieguez, alongside other cast members.
If folklore, surrealism and myths are what you crave for, then Netflix’s new series Invisible City should be on your weekend binge list. The series deals with more than folklore, however, and features a healthy dose of different genres, blending them together to bring forth one very intriguing watch.
Invisible City follows Eric as he tries to cope with his wife’s death. What starts off as an accidental death due to fire soon turns into something more, with Brazilian myths mixing into his life causing him to question his sanity. Will he be able to find a way to save himself and all that he holds dear?
The series takes a look, first and foremost, at the disparity between tradition and modern. The forest fire and dead fish are suspected to be caused by a construction company trying to buy the forest and displace its residents. However, Invisible City doesn’t want things to be quite so simple. The series juggles this and also supernatural things and blends them satisfactorily.
With only 7 episodes, each around half-an-hour long, the series is fun and, for the most part, keeps you hooked. There are several characters here who are all interesting and fascinating in their own right. Eric is the stereotypical broken protagonist, however, and his characterisation is good enough to make us root for him and his problems.
Although the forest and the construction company angle are good enough, it’s the supernatural parts that are the most interesting in this series. The show’s take on Brazilian folklore piques your interest and makes you question people’s motives and what they are capable of. Everyone’s a shade of grey, and the series does a decent job at keeping you guessing as to whom to trust.
The real twist of Invisible City, however, comes at around episode 5. In the first few episodes, the series tries to create intrigue and mystery and does not answer too many questions (acceptable). However, around episode 4-5 mark, it takes a turn and the pacing increases. The last three episodes go by in a blur, with different things occurring simultaneously. It’s a good watch for those of you who want something exciting yet not too taxing to binge.
Performances across the board are good and most of the actors do their job well. That includes Marco Pigossi, Jessica Cores, Alessandra Negrini and Manuela Dieguez. All of them are believable in their roles and bring flavour to the narrative. I especially enjoyed Jessica Cores and Alessandra Negrini’s roles. Negrini’s Ines was quite difficult to understand and that’s honestly great in a show like this.
Cinematography, too, is quite good. The show looks great, the costume suits the characters and serves their purpose and the effects, too, are not bad. Although yes, there are a few scenes of CGI that look a bit, well, not the best, but it’s not too bad to take you out of the experience.
Summing up: Invisible City
Invisible City is a satisfactory watch that is quite small to binge. It creates mystery and intrigue and blends it with very real problems like old vs new and the depletion of forest resources at the hands of big corporations. The series is mostly successful at keeping us on our toes, and the sparse places where you feel a bit bored won’t hamper the experience as a whole too much.
Invisible City is streaming on Netflix.
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