‘I reserve my time for people who can think…’
Everyone knows the context behind Megalopolis by now. Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola self-financed the project after no studio would touch it and it has been years in the making. The end result is one of the most batshit cinematic experiences I’ve ever had…
Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) is a brilliant architect who has developed some kind of new building material that will change the world. Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) is the mayor of New Rome (a stand-in for New York) and opposes Cesar’s futuristic utopia because… well, because he’s a baddie? I think? It’s quite confusing. Also, Cesar can stop time for some reason. Things go all Shakespeare when Cesar becomes romantically entangled with Cicero’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel). Elsewhere, Jon Voight plays the ailing patriarch of a wealthy family, Aubrey Plaza portrays a sexed-up news reporter and the cast is rounded out by Shia LaBeouf, Dustin Hoffman and Coppola family members Talia Shire and Jason Schwartzman.
Where to start? Megalopolis feels like at least three unfinished films are mashed together. It features some of the most bizarre line readings ever committed to film. There are moments that look incredible and moments that look, for want of a better word, dogshit. The score is fantastic. The set design is often ludicrous. I laughed at moments that were supposed to be serious and was chilled by moments that were supposed to be intimate. It’s confusing, pretentious, portentous and I couldn’t look away from it. It features some of the most gorgeous cinematography you’ll see anywhere and some of the worst editing. It’s far too long but never boring. In short, the phrase ‘walking contradiction’ was invented for this film. Where else can you see Jon Voight asking Shia LaBeouf if he can see his ‘boner’ before revealing that said boner is actually a crossbow? What a time to be alive.
While Megalopolis is obviously very flawed, and I’m not sure I can say that it is a ‘good’ film in the traditional sense, I would also strongly posit that the world of cinema is richer for having this film in it – a baffling, beautiful heap of nonsense.
