35/12

Coppola abandoned the project entirely in 2007 and only resumed development in 2019

Tale

The city of New Rome faces a duel between Cesare Catilina, a brilliant artist who advocates a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklin Cicero. Between them stands Julia Cicero, whose loyalty is torn between her father and her lover. Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay in the early 1980s, but the film was shelved in part due to his financial debts. Pre-production finally began in 2001, after shooting 30 hours of second unit footage and readings with Paul Newman, Uma Thurman, Robert De Niro, James Gandolfini, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Edie Falco and Kevin Spacey, but the project was abandoned after the 9/11 attacks because a scene in the script (page 166) « predicted » the attacks. The surveillance footage of Cicero entering Caesar’s office is said to come from two different cameras, as indicated by the small text in the upper left corner.

It’s the same recording, only mirrored and slightly tilted

Hamilton Crassus III: What do you think of my voucher? In the « Ultimate IMAX Experience » version of the film, the actor takes questions live during a taped press conference. Quoted on The John Campea Show: Adam Driver stars in Francis Ford Coppola’s new film « Megalopolis » (2022). My Promise Written by Grace VanderWaal Performed by Grace VanderWaal Courtesy of Columbia Records In arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment Produced and orchestrated by Kris Kukul. Megalopolis is a film that I wanted to like, especially since it is an incredibly expensive indie project written, produced, financed and directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola – an author who planned this work for 40 years and loves it so much that he personally rated it a 10 /10 on the movie platform Letterboxd.

Coppola does not shy away from interweaving political commentary and reflections on human existence

Additionally, the experience of sitting in an almost empty IMAX theater with only a few others added to the atmosphere… Aside from Adam Driver’s Oscar-worthy performance and the stunning visuals that looked gorgeous on the giant screen, nothing else about this movie is commendable. The plot revolves around the brilliant scientist Cesar, the inventor of the revolutionary material « Megalon », with which he wants to build the utopian city of the future – « Megalopolis ». This is one of the central themes of the film – the obsession with perfection in a world and society that is far from it. Envy, jealousy, greed and lust for power are other themes that shape the nature of this work.

The only character I was able to relate to was Cesar, thanks to Adam Driver’s brilliant performance

When I think about the themes of the movie, one would think that this would be a good movie. On the contrary, all these themes are destroyed by the narrative chaos, which, in my opinion, is a consequence of the director’s overbearing ambition to present an unprecedented « megalomaniac » work of art. Editing and narrative are disconnected – the film jumps from scene to scene without any context, which became tiresome after only fifteen minutes. By the middle of the movie, I completely lost interest in the story and was just waiting for it to end. Although most of the cast is familiar, it’s hard to connect with the characters – most are superficial and some are completely unnecessary.

The dialogues are mixed – sometimes brilliant, sometimes boring – which made the experience quite uneven

His ability to convey Cesaro’s mania, dialogue, and emotions is probably why I remained captivated, rather than the depth of the character itself. The cinematography is excellent, and if Coppola had focused primarily on this element, this could have been an exceptional film.