Francis Ford Coppola is highly regarded as one of the best American directors of the last century. Among his many credits, he’s most known for directing “The Godfather” films. Though different from his mafia classics, his new film, “Megalopolis,” is a science fiction Roman epic.
Set in a city fusing New York and the Roman Republic called New Rome, it looks as if “Spy Kids” and “Gladiator” had a baby. Caesar Catalina, played by Adam Driver, is a Nobel Prize-winning architect who wants to build a future utopia out of the falling empire. Mayor Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito, opposing him, believes the focus needs to be on the present.
Coppola has been trying to make this film since the 1980s. After taking a hiatus from making films in Hollywood in the ’90s, when Coppola finally approached studios to make his epic, none were interested in doing so. He wanted full creative control over the entire project, but it seemed too risky for financiers to pull off. Selling a portion of his winery, Coppola responded to the denial by shelling out an estimated $120 million of his own money to make the film independently.
The cast was assembled, production began and immediately there were problems reported and the entire visual effects team was fired from the film. From its first screening for industry heads to its first reviews out of Cannes, many were claiming the film is too weird for wider audiences. And now, as reviews hit the internet and the Rotten Tomatoes score drops below 50%, it seems like the wider audience agrees—it is not good.
With its opening weekend pulling in a “measly” $4 million, “Megalopolis” is said to be one of the biggest flops in film history. But Coppola’s not worried about this backlash, expressing in a recent interview that when people make a really big weird movie, regardless of whether it’s good or bad, the public will inevitably call it a masterpiece decades later, similar to reception of his film “One from the Heart.”
In 1980, Coppola directed “One from the Heart,” and made the controversial decision to create a film that fused old Hollywood musical aesthetic with modern realistic storytelling. When the cost of production began skyrocketing, Coppola began putting his own assets up as collateral putting full faith in the film’s success. Much to his chagrin, when the film was released, it played to mixed reviews and flopped. However, in the last few decades since the film’s release, it’s garnered quite a retrospective appraisal.
Filmmakers have cited “One from the Heart’” use of light, color and artifice as a massive inspiration. With history repeating itself, it appears that a similar response is in store for “Megalopolis.”
A major criticism of Coppola during production for “Megalopolis” was that he was wasting time improvising and making last-second changes on set. Critics claimed that it appeared he had never made a movie before. But what viewers must understand is that since the beginning of his career, Coppola has always been interested in innovating, seeing the need to push the film medium forward.
Coppola is the person credited with popularizing on-set playback and pre-visual animation, which are now standards in modern Hollywood production. At a showing for “Megalopolis,” an actor in the audience began “talking” to the screen and Caesar Catalina responded. Truly magnificent — he was not improvising or making last-minute changes because he did not know what he was doing, but because he was interested in doing something fresh. It may have been 40-plus years in the making, but that doesn’t mean the film should feel 40 years old.
Among the many things packed into this behemoth of a film is an Olivia Rodrigo reference, a Fred Again needle drop, and a Jan. 6, 2021 allusion. The film is packed with political commentary on the last handful of presidents as well as America as a whole. It paced like the TikTok For You Page (FYP), one scene after the other, with no connection between the two; the film is more interested in ideas than in plot points.
There is incest and attempted murder in this movie, but this debauchery is not Coppola’s own invention — it’s pulling directly from what was happening during the fall of Rome’s republic. The visual effects of the movie range from being breathtakingly beautiful to obvious and noticeable, but whereas most people assume this to be a flaw, it’s important to recognize that this film is not aiming for realism. The script is more akin to a writer like Shakespeare than anybody more modern, and the visuals reflect this lack of realism.
Many on X find Driver’s reading of the line “So go back to the club” as horrible and campy, but the humor of the film is clearly part of its own makeup and not by accident. Coppola would not be opposed to people laughing at his film, even if the scene was not intentionally funny. It has the whimsicality of a Wes Anderson film, chock-full of sincerity and earnestness. “Megalopolis” is not going to nod at the camera self-aware like a Marvel film and joke about its “bad CGI,” it owns it on its sleeve.
The film has been criticized for its messiness in plot and acting, but this is also a part of its design. Coppola stated in an interview that part of his philosophy in making films is that their form should be reflective of their content. So of course, a vulgar film of debauchery about the fall of an empire will be reflected in its cacophonous editing and varied performances.
The film is focused on humanity, time, the future, the past, love, politics and art; it’s bursting at the seams with ideas. It’s so romantic, both with its central storyline but also in its hope for humanity. It contains a pledge of allegiance, but not to America. It pledges allegiance to “our human family” for education, justice, and long life for all the species “we protect,” begging audiences to ponder just how often movies are this ambitious.
It is possible that even with the knowledge of everything laid out, one could still go watch or rewatch this movie and not find it to be “good.” It has been rightfully criticized as being Eurocentric. It is clearly the work of an American man in his 80s, but it is the work of an 85-year-old man who is hopeful for the future. At the least, it will still be memorable. People cannot stop discussing it.
As Caesar Catalina says in the film, “When we ask the questions, when we have the dialogue, that basically is a utopia.” So, while it’s still in theaters, escape to the utopia and experience a piece of art that is so clearly one from the heart!
*Correction made Oct 22, 2024