In the magical alternate realm of New Rome, the brilliant Cesar (Adam Driver) has a full-on superpower: He can freeze time, just like Zack Morris from Saved By the Bell. How did he get the ability to freeze time? How does it enhance his abilities as an architect trying to design a perfect utopia called Megalopolis? Writer/director Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t bother to explain.
And the freezing-time thing is just one of a thousand random details included in the legendary director’s long-brewing passion project, a movie he self-financed so that he could film it on his own terms. In doing so, Coppola has created the world’s most expensive cautionary tale when it comes to spending $120 million of one’s own money so that you don’t have to listen to studio notes, or anyone’s notes…
Oh god, if only someone had said something about this mess, at some point prior to the end of production. If only something could have been done. The script packs in a lot of Big Ideas about philosophy and society and community, riffing on the decline of the Roman empire as a direct commentary on the current state of the world: Its allegorical nature thus feels like an excuse for the flat characterization — despite the very talented ensemble who signed up to work on this, none of the characters feel like recognizable humans.
You can only say “It’s a fable! It’s not meant to reflect the world accurately!” so many times before those words, like so many other lines of dialogue spoken in this movie, lose all meaning. Take an early, relatively innocuous scene where two young women have a conversation, one that’s so awkwardly written that it screams “This was written by a grandfather who has no idea how the kids today talk.” Rather than recognize that potential weakness in his own writing, though — and without anyone being empowered to point it out — Coppola just plows forward.
Adam Driver’s always game in the moment, but Cesar is so inconsistently written that Driver largely plays him like a sleepwalker, a man so focused on the Megalopolis project that he can barely pay attention when yet another woman throws herself at him. And while the character of Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) has a real arc, evolving from party girl to the loyal lover of Cesar, the only aspect of her journey that doesn’t feel like a regressive exercise in slut-shaming is that she also develops an interest in science, after having abandoned medical school years ago.
The movie’s best qualities are all aesthetic ones: Milena Canonero’s rich costume design is more successful than the script when it comes to defining the personalities of these characters. You can really feel the talent involved in designing certain locations, like a massive colosseum or Cesar’s office/workshop. And there are remarkable visual tableaus throughout the movie, with bold lighting and staging choices that truly feel like they’ve been crafted by a filmmaker of remarkable vision.
All of these good qualities feel overshadowed, though, by the film’s worst choices. Take the decision to cast Shia LeBeouf as Clodio, cousin to Cesar and a potential political rival. Coppola recently told Rolling Stone that he deliberately cast “canceled” actors so that the film wouldn’t be “deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers.”
But LeBeouf wasn’t “canceled” for his political views (as much as anyone can be said to be canceled if, y’know, they’re playing a major role in a high-profile movie like this). LeBeouf stopped getting acting work because he hurt women. He admitted to it. The reason that’s worth mentioning here is that there are numerous scenes which spotlight LeBeouf running amuck with the kind of anarchic energy Coppola favorably compares to Dennis Hopper (another cool dude who hurt women). In particular, one of Clodio’s favorite things to do is… grope and harass women. He does it a lot, over the course of the movie. These scenes aren’t much fun to watch.
Megalopolis (Lionsgate)
More entertaining is Aubrey Plaza doing pretty much whatever the hell she wants as the platinum blonde Wow Platinum, whether that be gnawing on the scenery or flirting hard with Jon Voight’s Hamilton Crassus III. (She apparently watched “a lot of Fox News” to prepare for the role of a ruthless business reporter.) By and large, she’s acting in a totally different movie than anyone else, but honestly that movie seems a lot more interesting, albeit maybe even more unhinged than this one.
Not to say that Megalopolis isn’t unhinged on its own merits: There’s a puzzling moment, midway through the film, which attempts to break the fourth wall in a way that befuddled Cannes audiences; it’ll be awkward yet fascinating to see how that plays when the movie enters wide release, or gets watched at home.
Ultimately, the highest compliment to be given to Megalopolis is that unlike Kevin Costner’s own self-financed 2024 opus Horizon — An American Saga, there will be no Megalopolis — A New Roman Saga: Chapter Two. Coppola has successfully completed telling the story he wanted to tell, entirely on his own terms.
And it’s worth noting that while the narrative never has much in the way of real momentum, it’s definitely not boring. Really, the madness of Megalopolis is the kind of thing where you actually do kind of have to see it for yourself. Especially because there are moments that feel audacious in the way that Coppola’s The Godfather shocked audiences back in the day, choices that confirm this is not a filmmaker playing it safe. That’s an instinct to be admired. Even if it results in this.
Megalopolis arrives in theaters on Friday, September 27th.
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