Francis Ford Coppola, the Hollywood legend behind iconic productions like The Godfather and Apocalpyse Now, had at least one more film left in him: Megalopolisthe monumental story of an architect (Adam Driver) who could transform his city into an innovative mega-metropolis using a futuristic material called Megalon… if only he were let.
A film so ambitious that it was almost 50 years in the planning, and so unconventional that no distributor wanted it at first. Despite this, Coppola was so convinced that it was a long time coming Cinema release on September 26th had pumped $120 million of private assets into the project this year. What a story!
Initial reactions from Cannes said Megalopolis was more of a disaster than a masterpiece, but it sounded like at least an interesting film experience. In principle, if we understand him as an “auteur”, Coppola does everything right: he uses his craft to say something from his perspective. Cinema politics! Just remembers what he with bombastic to kitschy images has to say, more reminiscent of the rambling Facebook tirades of a grumpy great-uncle who has just discovered social media.
Megalopolis: The Master’s Opinionated Sci-Fi Fairy Tale
Inspired by the fall of Rome, Megalopolis is told through the stylized sci-fi flower the United States of America as the last empire in the world and the supposed abyss on which it dances. The political and cultural pessimism comes from various corners that the film not very subtly touches on: stubborn, corrupt politicians without vision, greedy women with a claim to power and decadent men in make-up who become reactionary forces and manipulate the masses.
Jumbled ones Political and culture clash points of friction with society are lashed together to form a “fable” and thus reveal different views. Coppola doesn’t seem to have the best opinion of modern women and, for example, lashes out against the Me Too movement in a scene in which a confused-looking lady mistakes a kiss for an attack. But neo-fascists in red hats also lose their fat when Shia LaBeouf’s antagonist becomes a reactionary political celebrity – surrounded by henchmen with black sun tattoos while he gives inciting speeches on a tree stump with a swastika.
With this anything-is-fair-game, Megalon-hammer satire tactic, maybe Coppola should write for South Park. His film is anyway hilariously hilariouswhich will also bring camp connoisseurs onto the scene. When Laurence Fishburne, as the narrator, has to reverently read out the meaningful wisdom of the film’s sublime marble panels. When the stars recite their bombastic dialogues without any apparent clue as to what they are saying. Or if, as the icing on the cake, pictures of Hitler and Mussolini are shown, as if we didn’t get it. Then come too Fans of good bad taste fully at their expense.
You can already see it in front of you: What are we watching today? First Showgirls, then Megalopolis!
Ford Coppola out of bounds (Ayn).
A concrete political philosophy can then be identified quite clearly: the libertarian one objectivism by egomaniac icon Ayn Rand. Her novel The Eternal Source in particular seems to have been a major source of inspiration here, alongside sci-fi epics like Metropolis and monumental films like The Ten Commandments. This is also about a visionary architect who just needs to be allowed to do things without annoying regulations so that humanity can move forward. To do this, you first have to believe in the fairy tale of the “great man” who should not only receive honor and fame but also special privileges for his legacy.
Which “great men” Coppola considers to be the greatest does not remain much of a mystery. In a key scene between Adam Driver’s architect Catilina and his beloved Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), it becomes clear that the metropolis designer and his unexplained ability to manipulate time Metaphors for filmmaking are themselves. He stands for great directors who not only shape the course of their works, but through them shape the form of civilization and the future – which in principle is not completely incorrect. In addition, the almost megalomaniacal gesture of making a self-congratulatory film about it is perfect for a man who gives his own film 5 stars (and a heart) on Letterboxd.
It also seems strangely fitting that the scene in question takes place with a Game of Thrones star. Because didn’t the fantasy series also end – exalting itself beyond measure – with storytellers and their stories being declared the most important wonder of the seven kingdoms?
We need more megapolises in the cinema – just not megalopolis
Most of the films described as “pretentious” and put in their place by artificially exciting popcorn cinema fans are not that at all. In this case, however, the label applies exceptionally. Anyone who is impressed by the worried, convoluted amateur historian wisdom in Megalopolis probably also follows culturally pessimistic Twitter/X accounts with white statues in their profile picture that lament the supposed downfall of the West.
Coppola recently said very modestly to Sight and Sound magazine: “I’m very confident that [Megalopolis] will be in the vein of Apocalypse Now, where it’s just looked at, watched and discussed. It’s designed to live a long time.”
The whole pursuit of immortality is like that shamelessly megalomaniac and presumptuous in its pseudo-profoundness, dripping with pathos, that one wants to finally put aside not only the auteur theory, but auteur filmmakers themselves. At least you would then be in the good company of film critic Pauline Kael, who was always an opponent of the concept of the “big man” behind the camera. The following quote also goes back to her, which could help us appreciate even (or especially!) an embarrassing and amusing fiasco like Megalopolis:
Films are so rarely great art that if we don’t we have little reason to care about them great trash can appreciate.