“Megalopolis is by far the most unhinged film of the year. I’ve seen it twice now and it definitely benefited from me hearing how messy and sometimes incomprehensible it can be. I didn’t walk into this film thinking it was a return to form for the director of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now”, but with the idea that this was a deeply personal and flawed film from one of the greatest directors to have ever lived. A film that was so rejected by the current Hollywood studio system that it was bound to be confounding and different. From that lens I watched this film and found it to be thoroughly entertaining, baffling, hilarious, pretentious, visually-striking, profound, and atrocious. There are parts of this film that are shockingly bad to the point that I questioned whether it was really the great Francis Ford Coppola who made it, but then there are other aspects of the film that undeniably bear his mark.
If you are walking into this film expecting to watch something good, then don’t bother. But if you are curious to see a film by one of the most important filmmakers of all time who has poured his heart out without a care to the world of what anyone thinks, then this might be the film for you. I liked it, I’m glad it exists, and I’ll probably see it again in the future.
The film is set in an alternative version of New York City called New Rome. Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) has won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of a new substance known as “Megalon” that he believes will revolutionize the way things are built and powered. The mayor of New Rome, Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), does not agree with Catalina and believes his substance to be unstable and dangerous. When an area of New Rome is razed, the Mayor and Catalina disagree with what should be built there. The Mayor wants a casino whereas Catalina wants to build a new type of structure, a “Megalopolis”, that provides and grows with the citizens living there. A kind of utopia. Catalina is not exactly the most heroic of characters though. There is talk that he murdered his wife, he drinks and does drugs. There are plots to diminish his characters and there’s even an attempt at his life.
This aspect of the story is arguably what worked the best for me. The design of “Megalopolis” is gorgeous and stunning. I loved the idea of a city that is plant-like, something that grows and conforms to the needs of the people. The unstable creative genius whose ideas are shunned by authority and the public undeniably draws parallel to Coppola’s own life and the pit falls he faced when building Zoetrope studios – a company founded in the 1970s that was meant to go against everything Coppola found wrong with the Hollywood system at the time. It was a place meant to foster creativity and new talent, a kind of filmmaking utopia. Long story short, it didn’t end up working out and the fallout from that seemed to be the genesis for this film. Either way, the idea of a powerful and gifted yet deeply flawed man going against the status quo to create something that he believes will make humanity a better place was the most interesting aspect of the film for me.
Where the film doesn’t quite work for me is with Cicero’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel). She is a socialite of New Rome who ends up becoming involved with Catalina’s project much to her father’s dismay. Whereas Adam Driver’s performance worked for me, Emmanuel’s does not. Her performance comes off as amateur and she comes off as being too tight in a film that is much less serious. Her dialogue delivery is off and I’m sad to say that it detracted from the film.
There is also a side plot with Catalina’s rich uncle, Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), being involved with Catalina’s previous mistress Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza). She essentially tries to take over the family business in an attempt to get back Catalina. This whole subplot works if solely for the reason that both Voight and Plaza seem to relish in their performances. They seemed to have really understood the unhinged nature of the film and it is great watching them on the screen. Aubrey Plaza especially gives the best performance in the film and I wished there was more of her in it.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Shia LaBeouf who plays Catalina’s jealous, deranged, and politically motivated cousin. I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t given any notes and just happened to have walked onto the sets when shooting was taking place. If Emmanuel didn’t lean far into the film enough, Shia LaBeouf leaned in too far. I believe there’s a shot where he bites Emmanuel’s leg and, judging by her reaction, I don’t think that was in the script.
There is so much more going on and the film has a lot to say. There is this element of time – which doesn’t really go anywhere. The characters in the film are more so ideas and representations rather than actual people. The destruction of NYC is shockingly brief. It’s messy and it can come off as being more style than substance, but it’s certainly not boring. If anything, it seems meant to draw out extreme reactions. For me, it worked better as a whole than it did in parts.
But I also want to take some time to appreciate the costumes, sets, and production design. They are all really top-notch and the idea of a New Rome is well-realized. The cinematography by Mihai Malaimare Jr. is gorgeous and the film is filled with stunning imagery – particularly those in the colosseum. The music by Osvaldo Golijov is also really well-done and I’ve casually listened to it here and there.
Unfortunately, the media hasn’t been kind to this film, referring to it as “Megaflopolis”. In order to finance the film, Coppola had to sell one of his wineries and probably took a humongous loss making the film. But I don’t think Coppola cares. He set out to make a film that he had thought about for over 40 years and he succeeded in doing it. I may not particularly love it, but I admire Coppola for once again making a film against all odds. It’s a testament to Coppola’s love for cinema and I can never fault the man for that.
When I had first heard about this project, I genuinely didn’t think it would ever see the light of day. But here it is, available now for anyone to see. And if anything you’ve read so far piqued your interest then I think it’s worth your time to watch it, just don’t take it so seriously and remember to have fun with it.
