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<\/a><\/div>\nThere are no words that can be put down on page to describe the sheer chaos of Megalopolis<\/i>, the latest film by legendary director, human trashbag, Francis Ford Coppola. It deliberately pushes the boundaries of what cinema is capable of at every turn: America repositioned as a debauched Roman Empire drenched in success, New Rome transforming into a Utopian future as the old ways come crashing down upon him. Coppola was so committed to the making of this picture that he invested his own money, sold his winery to do so \u2013 and recruited some of the best and most talented actors on the market; Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and more, for a story about the Fall of Rome \u2013 two giants, genius Cesar Catilina and Mayor Franklyn Cicero, trying to uphold the old order. Cicero\u2019s daughter, socialite Julia \u2013 is caught between both, her father and her lover \u2013 as the film faces the age old question: what does humanity deserve?\n<\/p>\n
Rivalling such chaotic swings at the fences as Southland Tales and the Wachowski sisters\u2019 later works, Megalopolis<\/i> could only be made without a focus group, without anyone to tell Coppola no. It\u2019s as personal as you could have hoped, an eccentric daring to stake his fortune on a vision for the future, a meta-contextualised study arriving right at the tipping point: who knew Coppola could be so timely? It\u2019s a project almost 40 years in the making, the film opens with Driver\u2019s Caesar literally stopping time \u2013 halting it in its tracks. Coppola is making a film about the old order \u2013 a man who believes in America, but this is a film that is making him question whether America is worthy of that belief. The overthrow of the Republic choked in the grip of socialites and aristocrats baying for blood at the circus is uniquely transported int the modern era, there\u2019s a feel of the Old Hollywood noir to it. It feels like a science fiction movie made in the 1950s \u2013 at almost three hours long, it\u2019s a rare relic of Golden Age. A movie out of time and out of focus, dealing with a noir-heavy plot at every turn.\n<\/p>\n
It does it justice. The mysteries are fascinating, you have age-old order, classic literature, urban planning being a healthy epicentre of the film\u2019s narrative. Urban planning has never been quite as interesting as it has been presented here \u2013 the clash of new ideas vs. the old order; the old truth vs. the new, Giancarlo Esposito finally cast in a role that doesn\u2019t just let him be Gus Fring \u2013 allowing to experiment with the wild upwards and downwards trends of politics. The rather audacious theatre set-piece around the film\u2019s mid-act swings for the fences in style; bold, bravado \u2013 full of chaos and energy \u2013 with Coppola taking aim at celebrity status at every turn. This is what Rome looked like before the fall of the Empire; he tells us.\n<\/p>\n
The performances are hammed up and theatrical; Megalopolis<\/i> feels more like a play than a cinematic production, performances enlarged to represent these greater than life \u2013 Go back to the Club, Driver tells Emmanuel early on -in a sure-to-be-memed theatrical performance. But this is not a misstep; this is Driver in top form, awkwardly unhinged \u2013 a man out of touch with society elevated to his status. His career has only gone from strength to strength, working with oft-reviled late-period Mann, Scott and Carax (of which, Annette<\/i> perhaps would feel the most comparable to the bold vision state of Megalopolis<\/i>), but here he feels in unbeatable form. Emmanuel plays the socialite caught under his spell superbly \u2013 her role escalating in momentum as it cascades towards a climax \u2013 which albeit, feels unearned, feels like the role of a master at work. The Catilinarian conspiracy is retold in modern day New York to full effect here \u2013 whilst Jon Voight and Shia LaBeouf both stilted; the collective whole is a visionary work \u2013 a scene in which Driver\u2019s Cesar interacts with an audience member wasn\u2019t recreated in my screening, save the poor underpaid souls of a Cineworld staff member, but its effect was paramount \u2013 creating an alien world divorced from reality and trapped in a creation of its own making. Coppola\u2019s gender-roles feel a bit old-fashioned and perhaps that\u2019s the only criticism here, more agency for both Julia and Aubrey Plaza\u2019s Wow Platinum wouldn\u2019t have gone amiss, with each actor going for a variety of different performances across the stage \u2013 Plaza\u2019s camp feels like a different film from Driver\u2019s Cesar, but deliberately so, these clash of styles colliding in a way that makes Megalopolis<\/i> feel greater because; not despite them.\n<\/p>\n
The film feels full of despair and unease in the sense that it feels so overwhelming you never want to watch a movie again after leaving the cinema \u2013 as an end point for Hollywood as an artform, Megalopolis<\/i> acts as such \u2013 and whilst its ending almost feels unearned, there\u2019s enough here to love for the bulk of its almost three hour runtime, an audacious, bold effort that can\u2019t help but be admired regardless of what side of the fence you fall on \u2013 it manages to find some sense of humour amidst it all. I love that we’ve had both this and The Substance<\/i> this year; two wildly different yet completely original works of art – showing that cinema is in a lot safer, as oxymoronic as it sounds, a place when studios aren’t afraid to take risks. And this may be the biggest risk of the decade.
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