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Writer's pictureKieran O'Brien

‘Megalopolis’: An Egotistical Yet Uncompromising Fable of Love and Genius – Film Review

A movie that can’t be put in a box

Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina and Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia Cicero on top of a building. Cesar is looking through a spyglass.
Credit: Lionsgate

It must be nice to have $120 million of disposable cash. From the extremely low-budget movies of the Duplass brothers to M. Night Shyamalan’s recent mid-budget movies, filmmakers have been self-financing their projects for years, but Francis Ford Coppola takes the cake. $120 million is a lot to throw at any movie, but to throw it at a project like Megalopolis is pretty much accepting that you’re not making your money back.


I refuse to believe that Coppola thought this would be a money-maker—we’ll get to the many reasons why—but to forge ahead regardless speaks to a certain desire for artistic fulfilment that is both relatable and commendable. Many—if not most—artists don’t do what they do for money, and Coppola takes this to the extreme.


He’s reportedly been gestating Megalopolis since the days of Apocalypse Now. The man has clearly put an immense amount of time, thought, and effort into creating this movie, and yet many are lambasting it for being a self-absorbed, overblown disaster. I’ll not lie—this is an off-putting movie—but I maintain that it is purposefully so.


Coppola has literally made the best movies of all time. He can do conventional. He can do broad appeal. And while I can’t deny his somewhat muddled career outside of his medium-defining works, after viewing Megalopolis, I struggle to align with the viewpoint that this is a man so out-of-touch that he doesn’t know what he’s doing—that he missed the mark so bad he’s deserving of ridicule.


The Meg

Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina.
Credit: Lionsgate

Haunted genius / architect / government official Cesar (Adam Driver) seeks to redevelop the city of New Rome into a thriving utopia called Megalopolis using a material he invented called ‘Megalon’, but faces resistance from his jealous cousin Clodio (Shia LeBeouf), Mayor of New Rome Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), and the power-hungry Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza). When Cicero’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) begins to work with Cesar, it could either bridge the gap between utopia and the status quo, or widen the gulf.


Cesar and Julia (maybe?) also have the ability to control time for no given reason.


I threw in that bit at the end there because it is one of the most jarring aspects of the narrative, and a hurdle that I fear many will struggle to overcome. As I said, there’s no reason given for why these characters can stop time with a word, but neither does their ability have any effect on the plot whatsoever apart from bringing them together.


Having such an extreme and powerful “superpower” get tossed off with barely an acknowledgement of its existence is daring and delightful, but also undermines any internal logic in this story. This is why it’s important to keep in mind that Megalopolis is a fable. It says so right at the beginning.


The Fable Man

Aubrey Plaza as Wow Platinum, lounging on a chaise longue, eating a cherry.
Credit: Lionsgate

Conventional Hollywood narratives have trained our brains to view films in a certain way—a way that Coppola totally disregards in favour of this extremely heightened style. Nothing will be explained to you. What is Megalon? Why can Cesar stop time? Why is this version of New York called New Rome? The answers lie in your interpretation of the fable.


Megalopolis’s plot and details will send you home with more questions than answers. Personally, I’ve found pondering these questions to be fun, but I can’t deny that some will instead find the movie to be a strangely incomplete experience, especially given how much time Coppola had to develop the script.


Also, while it can be fun to puzzle over the fine details of the movie, its wider messaging is incredibly obvious—maybe even insultingly obvious: a statue of Lady Justice collapsing while characters drive along crime-ridden streets and remark on the injustice of society isn’t exactly playing it coy. Coppola seems to think his audience is simple-minded—or, so some people feel.


Again, I would argue that this is due to the nature of the movie being a fable. Fables have lessons. Obvious ones. Are the themes of Megalopolis delivered in a ham-fisted way? Sure. On purpose. Characters quote Shakespeare and attend lavish parties while common people look at the spectacle through a wire-mesh fence. Subtle is not a word in this film’s vocabulary.


Everything is dialled to eleven. This creates a sense of artificiality that, although breaks any sense of realism or immersion in the story, serves the themes of the film nicely, and constantly give the audience something that is, at the very least, interesting to look at. The costumes feel both imperial and modern, and the sets look fantastic (when they’re not being undermined by the occasional obvious greenscreen effect. Filmmaking faux pas or another purposeful break from reality?).


Time Well Spent

Giancarlo Esposito as Mayor Franklyn Cicero.
Credit: Lionsgate

Of course, I haven’t even touched on the brazen narcissism at the heart of the movie. Through various references and storytelling devices, Coppola makes it clear that he has a pretty high opinion of himself. Maybe… just maybe… He might even be a genius for making something like Megalopolis despite decades of development hell? Hard to tell. If only the main character of the movie was a creator struggling to make a real-life Megalopolis despite years of hardship and strife. Oh, wait.


I guess this is another way that people like to put down the movie. It’s obvious what Coppola is trying to say with Megalopolis. Because of that, he can’t be a genius. After all, we understood it! And he thought he was being clever! Ha, gotcha, Coppola! “Love brings us together?” Pfft, duh! Not as smart as you think you are, eh?


Meanwhile, I think Coppola is at home, sipping a vintage rosé from his winery. He’s not sparing a thought for what you think of Megalopolis. I think he’s remembering his late wife Eleanor, to whom he dedicated the movie, which he worked on with his son, Roman. I think he’s basking in the satisfaction that comes from a job well done.


Who knows? Maybe he's a genius after all.


***


Thanks for reading my review. If you liked it, consider buying me a cup of coffee at https://ko-fi.com/kieranobrien

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