From the man who brought you Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders and the Godfather trilogy, comes Francis Ford Coppola’s latest picture, Megalopolis. The “epic science fiction drama”, set in the city of New Rome, attempts to draw parallels with the current United States and the fall of the Roman Republic. The allegory is thinly veiled with characters such as Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) and his antithesis Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito).
Self-produced by Coppola, costing some $120 million, it has completely divided opinions, this split aptly reflected by its current Letterboxd rating being an exact 2.5 out of 5 stars. The film centres mostly around Driver’s character of Cesar, a brilliant yet vice-ridden architect and his pursuit of creating a perfect utopia through his discovery of the new building material “Megalon”. Opposed by the mayor of New Rome—a pretty weak metaphor of New York City—who evilly supports the poverty that takes place outside of the Patrician families of the city.
Aubrey Plaza’s performance as Wow Platinum, a scheming wall street reporter, and Adam Driver’s portrayal of Caesar might be the only conciliation of an otherwise poor movie. Plaza adds some much needed levity, attempting to make the film somehow aware of its ridiculousness and Driver does his absolute best with the dialogue and direction he is given, attributing a sincerity to every scene he features. However, the love interest of Nathalie Emmanuel’s character, Julio Cicero, the mayor's daughter, feels oddly like a forced afterthought despite her role being so titular to the feature’s plot.
The picture also has a feeling of early 2000s nostalgia reflected at times by its uncomfortably embarrassing special effects, in spite of the serious budget. One of the reasons for this could be the fact that it was originally planned to be set into production at the start of the millennium, yet was ultimately halted due to the September 11 attacks. The producers refused to spend the needed money on his project so he went out to fund it entirely himself.
The sense that this film should not have been made reflects into the dialogue as well, which feels like a collection of poorly-arranged notes. Some lines slip into an almost Shakespearean level of seriousness, others, such as “What do you think of my boner?” and “You’re anal as hell. I, on the other hand, am oral as hell”, just leaves you asking, what did he mean by this?
Chloe Fineman even totally flubs a line and Coppola just decides to keep it in. Why is he doing this?The film is lacking in—perhaps any—intrinsic value, but it represents something special. Totally unhinged, the genuine creative freedom that it represents is, in a way, inspiring.
However, for what is perhaps the most well-funded independent film ever made, it just doesn't hit the mark. Constantly confusing, some of the main plot points fail to work in the way they were intended. This is, perhaps, most obvious by the fact the whole film’s action is effectively solved in no more than thirteen minutes.
For audiences who like watching other people leave a movie theatre clutching their pearls, this is for you. It just feels like someone should probably get Coppola to bed before they start taking back his academy awards.