On September 26, the epic science fiction screening started in cinemas «Megalopolis» by Francis Ford Coppola. The legendary director came up with the idea for the film while filming «Apocalypse Now», but he was only able to realize it now. At the same time, the film cost $120 million to produce. Coppola was not afraid to invest his own money. However, critics’ opinions on his long-suffering long-delayed project are polarized: some consider it an underrated masterpiece that will be reinterpreted by future generations, while others consider it outright nonsense and tasteless. Well, let’s figure out whom to believe.
Pluses:
is not a comparable movie experience;
Minuses:
It all looks more like one big, mocking joke on the audience;
«Megalopolis»
Genre epic science fiction
Director Francis Ford Coppola
Starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Natalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia Labeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, James Remar, Dustin Hoffman
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb, official website
In the reality proposed by the story, New York has become the New Rome, but the indifferent skyscrapers still kiss the sky. The brilliant architect Caesar Catilina dreams of building a utopia on this place with the help of the unique megalon material he invented (no, Shia Labeouf, not Megatron). He also can stop time. The local mayor Franklin Cicero is against Caesar’s ephemeral idea, but the mood of the hostile father is not shared by his beautiful daughter, the socialite Julia, who begins to show a great interest in Caesar.
Meanwhile, the story will feature several other interesting characters. In particular, the architect’s cousin Claudius Pulcher, who is hatching a plan to seize power. TV presenter Wow Platinum, who uses the good old-fashioned method of seduction to achieve her mercenary goals. Bank CEO Hamilton Crassus III, who is going to live forever. Here and there, there will be some very episodic characters, such as Dustin Hoffman’s character or pop star West, played by Grace Vanderwall. There will be a courageous voiceover by Lawrence Fishburne, who will compare ancient Rome with modern America.
«Megalopolis» — is Francis Ford Coppola’s dream project and, as he claimed, his opus magnum. To say that here we have a movie that is not designed for the usual viewing experience is an understatement.
It is extremely difficult to wade through the confusion of a huge number of thoughts inspired and dictated by the works of Ayn Rand, Hermann Hesse or David Graeber, history, mythology, and, finally, one’s own life experience. As well as loosely connected scenes and storylines and unreasonably high-minded dialogues about nothing. Almost impossible.
Absolutely wild drug trips and strange kaleidoscopic delusions or dreams coexist with circus performances. Caricatured gladiatorial fights — with a deadly Soviet satellite. A claim to a bright visual style (Art Deco is particularly striking) — with questionable insertions and special effects. Metaphorical, quotes from Shakespeare or Marcus Aurelius and pretentious speeches about a happy future — with jokes about a penis, an erection in the frame and a scene where Aubrey Plaza rubs her crotch against Shia Labeouf’s face.
This is a one hundred percent author’s blockbuster, devoid of compromises in terms of viewer comfort. It’s a confusing mess, always and simultaneously wrapped in pretentious monumentality. It is a colossus on clay feet, both as a project itself and as a content element that symbolizes the author’s warning about the empire shown in the film (read — the United States). Such cinema is simply impossible to evaluate rationally. And there is no point.
But how can one condemn Coppola: in contrast to the ruthless studio system of film production with total creative control, he can afford such a celebration of complete independence. Something like that today capable except for Roland Emmerich, and even he makes films to make money, not in comparison much more friendly to the viewer — mostly entertaining disaster movies. And Coppola doesn’t care if someone doesn’t like it. No, not even that, — he doesn’t care if no one likes it at all.
In terms of content, to put it very simplistically, the 85-year-old filmmaker calls for working today for a better tomorrow that we will leave to our descendants. To be more precise, this is not easy to do when the construction of the present, at least the American present, involves so many contradictory components. Such as geniuses, billionaires, philanthropists, playboys (emphasis added), their opponents, mistresses, divided American society in general, battles of ideologies (conservative and more progressive views), populism, capitalism, biased media, and much more. Labaf-Trump, for example, is as relevant today as ever.
Coppola puts all this good and not-so-good stuff in such disparate scenes, in such a bizarre hodgepodge of visual heterogeneity that it can cause slight dizziness in the most sensitive people.
Not everything is so clear with the acting, despite the fact that the cast is truly first-rate, and each character represents something or someone. Aubrey Plaza, for example, is a typical seductive woman who symbolizes the unscrupulous media. Labeouf, who is openly daring on the set, was mentioned above.
In general, the actors’ tasks are not very clear. Adam Driver doesn’t give his best performance, playing a sluggish, sluggish type on hard drugs with superhero powers and a Kylo Ren outfit. Cold and warm shades sparkle on his face, as if reminding us of the close presence of Morpheus, who wants to push his pill again. Giancarlo Esposito is not memorable. Jon Voight, the father Angelina Jolie, it’s just painful to watch. Fishburne and Hoffman are too episodic.
Such brazen experiments as «Megalopolis» — are a major cinematic event, and an extraordinary one at that.
Perhaps, this is exactly what the self-proclaimed opus magnum of a great director should be like — controversial, ambiguous, and from all sides scandalous, outrageous and such that after watching it, you can only ask two questions: «what the hell was that?» and «maybe the old man forgot to take his pills?». At least the director thinks about the viewer last. Then why should we not care about this bizarre, blatantly unwieldy and unbearable performance?
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