By RUBY BAUDHUIN, JACKSON KOMPKOFF, and EMMA LAUS
Synopsis: New Rome, or New York, is facing corrupt elites and rising inequality. There are two paths the city faces, the populist politician who exposes the elite’s lies and stokes tensions or the genius architect who offers a new utopic city called Megalopolis.
Introduction (Ruby):
Since the film’s debut in May 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival, I have been eagerly awaiting “Megalopolis’s” theatrical release. Its August 2024 trailer—which was recalled hours after its release due to its inclusion of misquotes from critics—left me even more titillated. At this point, reviews of the film were already wildly mixed, perhaps more so than any movie I have seen released in my lifetime.
The film, which was entirely self-financed via Coppola’s winery estate sale, cost roughly $140 million to produce and generated an estimated $4 million in the weekend ticket sales of its theatrical debut, according to the New York Times.
Box office numbers, of course, are not a true indicator of a film’s greatness. What is a true indicator? This very review that you are about to read 😉
Performances & Casting (Emma):
Coppola clearly had a vision, but does this messy, morally ambiguous, theatrical whirlwind of a movie accomplish it? The $140 million budget was very apparent—every scene was highly stylized in a pseudo-New York setting and it was easy to get lost in the visuals on screen. There was also a drug-induced montage sequence that seemed to belong in an entirely different movie, but made for an awesome viewing experience. If nothing else, the ambition is admirable! Unfortunately, the visuals were not quite enough to make up for the flat characters, questionable messaging, and historical inaccuracies.
I’ve loved Adam Driver since I watched Girls last year, and luckily for me, he was heavily channeling his inner Adam Sackler in “Megalopolis.” He seemed so silly, so pure at heart… not something I would expect from a historically inaccurate Julius Caesar. Or maybe that’s just how Adam Driver is— I haven’t watched the “Star Wars” sequels since like 2018. Either way, he deserved a better Francis Ford Coppola role than whatever this was.
That said, the questionable casting choices did not end there. Every time I see Shia LaBeouf on the screen I feel like committing acts of violence and this was no exception. Aubrey Plaza was honestly my favorite and I was really rooting for her character. Grace Vanderwaal, a couple of Coppolas, and Giancarlo Esposito also made appearances.
To me, it seemed like each actor was in an entirely different movie. The tones were off, some performances overly melodramatic, some comedic, and others were just flat. Many characters also fall into tropes, particularly Julia, the mayor’s daughter, and Cesar’s love interest, who is frustratingly undeveloped outside of her relationships with these men.
Content (Jackson):
Coppola’s “Megaflopolis” fails in many aspects, but it certainly succeeds in capturing our historical epoch. From the constant references from 21st-century political figures to 1st-century ones, the heavy symbolism of a collapsing Lady Justice and Moses, and the obvious equation of Shia Lebeouf’s character with Trump, Hitler, and Marc Antony, the film seems like a desperate call for help by a dying man.
Another movie that helps put “Megalopolis” in perspective is “Apocalypse Now,” an adaptation of the novel “Heart of Darkness.” The book is a subtle critique of Belgian colonialism in the Congo and Coppola aimed for “Apocalypse Now” to be a subtle critique of American interventionism in Vietnam. The righteousness of “Heart of Darkness” proved to be World War II, bringing the horrors of colonialism to Europe itself. The message of “Megalopolis” seems to be Coppola both condemning and supporting American expansionist ideology.
The dominance that America has been able to achieve in the past 85 years is only possible through being the “world police.” With the rise of Trump, we see the logic of foreign intervention brought into the domestic sphere with the denial of election results, massive corruption and bribery, and especially the elevation of the executive above the other branches of government.
It is at the end of “Megalopolis” that Coppola reveals his true feelings on the death of the American project. A Soviet satellite crashes into New Rome and out of the ashes Cesar builds his Megalopolis—a utopia funded by the banks of the elite and the rapidly emptying pockets of the lower class, defeating the popular, but fascistic LeBeouf. “Megalopolis” promises nothing but the continuation of our current system, except with a single Architect who structures the lives of the people.
Conclusion (Ruby):“Megalopolis” bravely posits that if, in the impending collapse of the American republic, citizens must forgo all democratic power and put their future in the hands of one man, they might as well be the hands of eccentric billionaire architect Adam Driver. Coppola dreams of a better future for America, but when that future amounts to a glorified theme park made exclusively for rich people and a hackneyed model of the nuclear family, it’s difficult not to view the director as egotistical and out of touch. In the words of Letterboxd user BrandonLikes, “Francis made a coppola mistakes with this one.”
Featured Image: Megalopolis
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