Coppola's Megalopolis: A Cinematic Odyssey Through Ambition and ExcessMegalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola's latest and possibly final big swing in a career full of them, is a lot of things, some of them very good. One thing it isn't is afraid. It is an earnest story (of sorts) about ambition and the future and a collapsing America, in which New York City is New Rome. (Another thing this movie isn't is subtle.)

A Visionary's Masterpiece or a Cinematic Trainwreck?

Navigating the Labyrinth of Megalopolis

The film is a Shakespearean play, an homage to big, sweeping, disastrous Hollywood productions like Cleopatra, the films of Powell and Pressburger and Federico Fellini, a bad Saturday Night Live sketch, Ayn Rand fan-fiction, and a telenovela fever dream. At times, the audience may find themselves laughing with the movie; other times, they may be laughing at it. The sheer audacity and unpredictability of Megalopolis are both its greatest strengths and its most glaring weaknesses.

Coppola's Ambition and Egomania on Full Display

More than anything else, the movie is simply one man wondering if man's ambition to create a utopia is worth the headache and angst that creating anything requires. The movie is ostensibly about Cesar Catalina, an architect(?)/city designer(??) who can stop time(???), and his quest to build a city of the future to replace New Rome as it becomes obsolete. Catalina battles the mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) and members of his own family who decry him as a madman. Catalina is also a Bruce Wayne–like socialite and raconteur, since being infamous is part of his brand to make people pay attention to his grand designs for society.

A Shakespearean Drama of Love and Conflict

Catalina eventually falls for the mayor's daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), and through their love, he and the mayor become even more strongly opposed, essentially having an existential fight between reforming the old society or building something totally new. There's also a family succession drama involving Aubrey Plaza marrying Jon Voight for his money and Shia LaBeouf playing a Trump-like figure trying to use societal anger to his advantage.

Coppola's Cinematic Fingerprints and the Actors' Commitment to Madness

Everything good and also bad about the work itself, even down to the ugly cinematography and visual effects, bear Coppola's unique fingerprints. It's exhilarating, in the same way a car crash or a tightrope walk between skyscrapers is exhilarating. The actors are in on the lunacy, and bring some insanity of their own to their performances and peculiar line readings. It all starts with the patron saint of weird leading-man performances, Adam Driver, who delivers a performance that is sure to become meme-worthy in the coming months.

Megalopolis as a Cinematic Experience

And then there is "that scene," which is a lot of fun and captures what it is Coppola wants Megalopolis to be: something akin to a museum exhibit or a live show. Something you have a personal experience with and take from it whatever you take from it—even if all you take away is that this is a piece of shit and that Coppola should be kicked out of Hollywood literally with a giant cartoon boot. That's as valid a reaction as any other, and more importantly, it's a visceral feeling. And not a lot of art is giving you that these days.