Sometimes, a movie comes along that leaves you speechless. Or, in this case, wordless. What does this mean, you ask? Depending on the film, it can, of course, be a good thing. Other times, though, it is the furthest thing from. Megalopolis, the latest film by director Francis Ford Coppola, has been leaving audiences perplexed. People love it. Others hate it. Where will we stand, you ask? Well, read on.
About Megalopolis
Truthfully, Megalopolis is a royal beast of narrative that may just be impossible to summarize. The film takes place in the fictional world of New Rome. This is a fable, after all. The story traces the conflict between artist and architect Cesar (Adam Driver) in his battle against the city’s corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito). This is all seen through the eyes of the mayor’s daughter (Nathalie Emmanuel), the woman caught between these two powerful men. Megalopolis features an all-star cast, including Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, and, of course, Jason Schwartzman. Francis Ford Coppola directs the film from his own script.
Full disclosure: yours truly is a Coppola fan. The Godfather was an early favorite when I was first learning about classic film, and movies like The Conversation and One From the Heart remain among my all-time favorites. As such, I was ready and waiting for Megalopolis as soon as the trailer burst on the scene.
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A Complicated Beast
Here, I must reiterate that this movie is a big, complicated beast. It is this likely playing into the drastic and wide-ranging reception the film is earning. Megalopolis is a big, sweeping epic featuring some borderline chaotic swings from the director in what is very likely his final film. The story is famously one of Coppola’s longest-gestating projects, and he’s yearned to complete this opus for decades. Casts have changed. Technology has evolved, but through it all, the director has finally nursed his idea into reality.
Coppola packs Megalopolis with a dense cacophony of ideas. This is, as mentioned, a fable examining the United States as a modern-day Rome. This does lend itself to some layered storytelling. There’s so much to take in over the almost 140-minute runtime. There’s a message here Coppola is yearning to get across. It’s just a bit challenging to wrap your head around it.
While this script is dense and weighed down with a bevy of complicated ideas, I really was left wanting more. Truthfully, walking out of Megalopolis, I wanted to see it again. I wanted to read the script. This is the kind of screenplay that needs an almost academically close, line-by-line reading to get the full effect. It goes without saying that Megalopolis won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. However, I also don’t think this is a film you “get” after a single viewing.
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A Chaotic Tapestry of Creative Choices
This is not a new experience for me with Coppola’s work. A number of the director’s “quirkier” films have, in truth, stood the test of time better for me after a second viewing. I struggled mightily with movies like The Cotton Club and even the infamous The Godfather Part III on early viewings but felt the clouds part (ever so slightly) the second time around. Coppola is a director who does things his way, and that can sometimes be a challenge.
He’s doing things his way in Megalopolis and has ramped the quirkiness up to 11. The film is drowning in a chaotic tapestry of creative choices. Chief among these is a fascinating integration of a Shakespearean stylization into much of the dialogue. This ranges from delivery and staging that feels familiar to those who are fluent in “The Bard” to the literal usage of large chunks of Shakespearean dialogue. This Adam Driver fangirl was gleeful as I watched him deliver Hamlet’s soliloquy word for word. Bucket list item complete.
This results in a theatricality that isn’t always the easiest on the ear. In the theater, this does result in moments that feel a bit unintentionally hilarious. Through all this, the actors are fully and completely committed to Coppola’s vision in all its quirkiness. Adam Driver continues to show himself as one of the greatest performers of his generation, and he’s having a blast in this unwieldy (and occasionally unhinged) role. Nathalie Emmanuel rises above a potentially thankless character and stands toe-to-toe with both Driver and Esposito. Meanwhile, Aubrey Plaza takes her decidedly against-type role and, to put it briefly, slays.
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Slack-Jawed Fascination
When all is said and done, Francis Ford Coppola is going out on his terms. Megalopolis is a gigantic undertaking. While there are a great many choices here that might not work, what can be said is the director has made a movie that is fully and completely his.
Throughout his career, Coppola has strived for creative control in his features and has never been afraid to swing for the fences. In this final film, he’s thrown caution to the wind and in an industry that often prioritizes filmmaking by focus group, it is often the wackiest swings that are often the most refreshing.
Many won’t like this movie, but Megalopolis left me in slack-jawed fascination. Was it intentional? I have absolutely no idea. What I do know, though I was utterly enthralled by this film. Do with that what you will.
Megalopolis opens in theaters around the country on Friday, September 27, 2024.
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