Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola's latest is big on ambition, but short on substance

Francis Ford Coppola is arguably one of the best directors in history. He’s a filmmaker with an unbridled ambition, and whose uncompromising nature made many of his projects become white whales. Apocalypse Now (1979) was a notoriously troubled set, which Coppola largely self-financed, and many believed would never be completed. Now, the film stands as one of the defining war films. Coppola’s latest self-financed opus is an even bigger bet with Megalopolis (2024).

Megalopolis is a film that follows the brilliant architect Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver) who lives in a New York stand-in called “New Rome” and seeks to remake the city into a utopia. However, Cesar must battle against multiple undercurrents, from unpopular Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), to the wealthy baron Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voigt), the duplicitous journalist Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), and the loose canon playboy Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf). Complicating things is Cesar’s romance with the Mayor’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel).

Coppola had been dreaming of making Megalopolis since the 1970s. Preproduction started in 2001, but was canceled due to the 9/11 attacks, mirrored in a scene in the film. Coppola tried to restart in 2007, and 2019, before the pandemic scampered his efforts. Finally, the American auteur has pulled through with an uncompromised vision due to his self-financing. Coppola sold his French vineyards to put up the $120 million budget.

One must admire the ambition behind Megalopolis, especially from a veteran director who could cruise through a film or retirement and be lauded. The energy and passion on screen are palpable, sadly coherence is completely lost. Coppola’s isolation as the sole financier and creative mind seems to have affected his ability to bounce ideas off others and catch redundancies, awkward phrasings, and useless plot threads. Many creatives clash with their financiers and this collaboration helps deliver an equilibrium of artistic vision and commercial appeal.

Megalopolis is about everything, from the decaying of empires to the delusions of geniuses, to political corruption, Robert Moses, far-right extremism, transcendentalism, celebrity culture, social morality, Shakespeare, temporal powers, nepotism, and legacy, just to name a few. The film is equally sprawling in the number of characters and cast members, you might not even notice Dustin Hoffman in a laughably useless role, or Talia Shire as a blink-and-you’ll miss character. Story threads are abandoned for large chunks of time and then inexplicably become central to the story, only to be forgotten about later again. No central message seeps through, and the mélange of narratives dilutes the possibility of any characters delivering intimacy or vulnerability.

Coppola’s unwieldly cast is left at a loss for the tone of the film. Given the rather awkward and stilting dialogue, each performer spins a different take of Megalopolis. This leads to a tangle of tones, where Plaza is playing a satire, Driver a drama, and Voigt a comedy. Emmanuel is the actress that suffers most from this indecision, with a wooden performance that emanates the discomfort and loss of what to do with her movement and intonation.

Coppola’s investment pays off in the look of the film. Megalopolis crafts an impressive weave of Ancient Rome and New York architecture, and the visual effects and production design, which lean heavily on Art Deco, are refreshing. Likewise, the cinematography from Mihai Malaimare Jr. using lighting and colors to deliver a futuristic yet ancient look for the film is uniquely special.

Coppola’s latest is admirable for its unhinged ambition. However, the lack of restraint, and overstuffing of tone, messages, references, characters, and plot, makes Megalopolis a tangled mess from which few viewers will find much to salvage aside from an appreciation of an artist taking risks.

4.0/10