Megalopolis
Directed by:
Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito,
Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza
Sci-Fi/Drama | R
2 hr 18 min
2 stars
By Reed Ripley
Where do I even start with Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making, self-financed, modern Roman epic Megalopolis? Undoubtedly, it’s a total mess. Strands of ideas are haphazardly cobbled together without much substance, actors are on completely different pages, and many decisions were seemingly made just to prompt certain critics and fans to use the words like “ambitious” and “avant-garde.”
But, at the same time, there’s something inescapably there—we’ve never seen something quite like Megalopolis, which is unsurprising given Coppola’s maniacal commitment to pushing his own boundaries and the boundaries of the form. Nonetheless, that something isn’t enough to salvage the film for anyone outside those wrapped up in Coppola’s filmmaking mystique.
Before the screening, I had the benefit (or perhaps disadvantage) of seeing a live Q&A with Coppola, Robert de Niro, and Spike Lee, streamed live across the country from the 62nd New York Film Festival. The poor moderator was doomed from the jump—Coppola immediately hijacked the discussion with long-winded, rambling defenses of his filmography, in which he made sure to mention The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now. Coppola’s defensiveness in anticipation of backlash to Megalopolis was palpable.
The thing is, despite the narrative that’s developed through the past 50 years—mainly based on the nightmarish production of Apocalypse Now—those films were widely successful and hailed, essentially upon release. Understandably, one thinks of those films when one thinks of Coppola, but he’s actually made 23 feature films, and many of them were unsuccessful.
Megalopolis is simply not in the conversation with Coppola’s finest, nor is it even close. This is Coppola’s attempt at commenting on America’s modern descent into partisanship and rot, and he chose to set that in “New Rome,” a New York analogue with the garish trappings of Ancient Rome. It’s an on-the-nose choice in a film full of them (at one point, there’s a literal swastika sculpture carved out of a trunk while a populist fascist sends a crowd into a frenzy).
That’s an extremely weighty theme, and if a film goes there, it must do so with nuance and depth. Megalopolis has neither, and it’s hard not to see that as a product of 85-year-old Coppola’s tenuous connection with the world’s state of affairs. Most exemplary of this is Coppola’s apparent solution for our country’s problems, as shown through the film’s conclusion—if we all just come together, hand-in-hand, and collectively step into the future, then everything will be just fine.
That’s incredibly naïve, and it’s disappointing to say the least from a filmmaker who has prided himself on creating films steeped in sophisticated and pointed philosophy. Moreover, beyond just the thematic issues, there are often lines, actions, and sometimes even whole scenes that defy explanation. Not in an artistic, questioning way, either, where one will “get it” given the correct mindset or thought process—they simply don’t make sense.
Again, I can’t say Megalopolis is a disaster. It very well may be the Coppola of it all clouding my judgment and directing my subconscious to find something, anything, positive, the same disease of Coppola-brain that will lead a certain subsect of film fans to immediately declare Megalopolis a misunderstood masterpiece. But, despite its many, many flaws, Megalopolis was nevertheless consistently engaging. Actors are absolutely Going For It, whatever “It” is, and Coppola’s depiction of New Rome and its ancient-modern-futuristic fusion is certainly interesting to look at.
More than anything, Megalopolis is an utterly fascinating look into Coppola’s psyche—how he views his legacy, what he thinks he’s accomplished, and how he thinks his filmography will serve as evergreen commentary on American society and civilization at large. Unfortunately, the film just isn’t put together enough to justify the time investment for all but a specific strain of filmgoer.
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