Francis Ford Coppola’s newest film is anything but a masterpiece.
Francis Ford Coppola’s newest film is anything but a masterpiece.
A flirtation with grandeur and utopia, “Megalopolis” crumbles under its own audacity.
Following clashing leaders vying for power in the collapsing empire of New Rome — a New York City caricature steeped in classical aesthetics — “Megalopolis” likens modern-day America with Roman Republic ideologies.
It’s a miracle “Megalopolis” exists at all, given the decades-long hailstorm of rewrites, delays and false starts. WIth no studio backing the project, writer, producer and director Francis Ford Coppola sold part of his winery estate to secure financing.
Coppola (“The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now”) took over forty years to construct the agglomeration of his wildest dreams and deepest musings. Since his childhood, the 85-year-old has “added everything I had ever read or learned about” to his collection of inspirations for the film, he Vanity Fair.
Reports of Coppola’s inappropriate conduct with extras and a toxic work environment suggest a harmfully misguided commitment to a perfect reproduction of his convoluted vision.
A sci-fi reimagining of the Cataline conspiracy, “Megalopolis” follows idealistic architect Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver) in his quest to build Megalopolis — a utopia made from Megalon, an interdimensional material capable of manipulating time and space.
Catalina is opposed by the efforts of Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) to maintain power by reinforcing government corruption. Their strife is exacerbated when the politician’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), enters a relationship with Catalina.
Also muscling for social power are Catalina’s cousin, the slimy Clodio Pulcher (Shia LeBeouf), Pulcher’s billionaire father, Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight) and clout-hungry reporter Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza).
The star-studded cast attempts to keep pace with Coppola’s explosive vision to varying degrees of success. With reports improvisation and rewrites were common on set, it’s no wonder there’s a noticeable lack of cohesion between performances.
Driver’s (“Marriage Story,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”) bizarrely Shakespearean performance sidesteps Emmanuel’s (“The Killer,” “Game of Thrones”) attempts at intimacy and tenderness. With each actor contributing a vastly different performance, emotional connections between characters feel implausible.
Plaza’s (“Parks and Recreation,” “Ingrid Goes West”) characteristic dry humor is a recognizable delight that serves as a reminder of the film’s tonal inconsistencies.
Juggling a laundry list of themes — love, loyalty, consumption, greed and ambition — Coppola’s script surrenders nuance. The dense script has nothing of substance for actors to sink their teeth into, leaving them to fill in blanks between exhausting expository dialogue.
A reliance on explicitly telling, not showing motivation — seen in the use of awkward voice over — makes the writing immature and sloppy, akin to throwing darts at a board and hoping something of value sticks.
While the director had decades to align his darts and a $120 million budget to ensure his throws were well-executed, Coppola landed far from the mark.
Liberating himself from filmmaking expectation, Coppola wanted to make something completely unlike formulaic Marvel movies, according to The Guardian. It’s odd, then, that he opts for green screen technology with the visual elegance of a hastily-made “SNL” digital short.
The film lacks visual precision and refinement, likely due to the departure of the visual effects and arts teams halfway through shooting, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
CGI architecture lacks the scale or brilliance of a Roman Empire, as shallow depths of frame remove characters from useful context. Cuts from green screen Roman architecture to contemporary city street corners are jarring. The opportunity for visual characterization is missed by forgettable costuming.
The film’s inauthenticity could be an intentional thematic device. Maybe it’s meant to demonstrate the alienation which results from capitalism, as theorized by Karl Marx. Maybe it shows how soulless a life without vision for the future is.
Coppola undermines these possibilities by positioning Catalina’s architecture as humanity’s saving grace. It’s not the human spirit that prevails — it’s reliance on increasingly complex technologies.
The strongest moments in “Megalopolis” showcase the unity of humanity. A montage of families celebrating holidays is both uniquely constructed and heartwarmingly familiar. The most poignant lines are direct citations of famed philosophers like Henry David Thoreau and Marcus Aurelius, whose ideologies are enshrined in history.
The film’s outrageous eccentricities unfortunately overshadow soulful moments. Viewers may spend too long thinking “what on Earth am I watching?” to catch the timeless common threads of human experience Coppola draws.
“Artists can never lose their control of time,” Catalina says.
In the context of a tumultuous production, this line comes across like a self-conscious plea.
A perplexing watch, “Megalopolis” is a fascinating firework of visionary expression that confuses excess with impactful substance.
“Megalopolis,” rated R, is in theaters now.
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