Megalopolis: A Review (Review #1875)

MEGALOPOLIS

Megalopolis has been the dream project for its director, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, for decades. It has been the subject of discussion and fascination before, during and after its production. Now, it is here. Megalopolis is not for everyone. It is grandiose, at times incoherent, even downright bonkers. Yet, I enjoyed almost every crazy moment in it. 

Subtitled "A Fable", Megalopolis revolves around a mythical place called New Rome (an amalgamation of ancient Rome and modern New York). Here, the ruling families battle it out for control, their competition visions for New Rome clashing. On one side is brilliant architect Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver), who envisions an almost literal shining city on a hill called Megalopolis. It will be a fantastic place, built for the ages, where people can work and pursue grand visions of the future.

On the other is his rival, New Rome Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). He would want to take the land Catalina wants to build Megalopolis on and build a government-approved casino which will fund basic services and provide for taxpayers. Cicero and Catalina are bitter rivals stemming from when as District Attorney, Cicero prosecuted Catalina for murder, Catalina's wife dying in mysterious circumstances. 

Things grow more tense when Cicero's daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) shifts her loyalties. She loves and defends her father dearly. She, however, is also intrigued by this Randian-like genius and they eventually begin an affair. More family intrigue builds when Catalina's mistress, finance reporter Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza) marries Catalina's rich, powerful and slightly dotty Uncle Hamilton Crassus (Jon Voight). That is not counting the machinations of Hamilton's son and Catalina's cousin Clodio (Shia LaBeouf), who is pretty crazed, pretty jealous and pretty ambitious. He wants power too, but will his populist revolt get him to push both Cicero and Catalina out? What will the future hold for everyone as they battle for Megalopolis?

Truth be told, I think I gave Megalopolis a more coherent plot summary than the film itself did. Therein lies one of Megalopolis' greatest flaws, one aspect that many reviewers and viewers focus on: how unwieldly the overall structure of the film is. You get so many ideas, so many plot points, so many characters, that it soon becomes muddled. What was the point of either Jason Schwartzman or Dustin Hoffman appearing in Megalopolis? The former is writer/director Francis Ford Coppola's nephew, the latter a veteran actor who I figure was doing a friend a favor. Neither of them, however, needed to be there.

I think Coppola had a vision so vast and grand that he got lost in it. There are several ideas flowing through Megalopolis, but eventually it becomes too much to hold the thing together. At times, Megalopolis becomes more involved in the visuals and the style than in whatever plots it is trying to shape. 

I personally could see shades of the Claus and Sunny von Bulow case best known from Reversal of Fortune with Catalina and his late wife. I saw strong elements of I, Claudius with the wildly dysfunctional Crassus-Catalina family (especially after LaBeouf's Clodio appeared in Romanesque drag, shades of John Hurt's Caligula floating about my head). Things seemed to be borderline incoherent, such as Wow's dramatic end with Jon Voight recreating Who Killed Cock Robin while dressed as some kind of Robin Hood. There is even a bit of Thomas Becket and Henry II when Clodio screams out "Will no one rid me of this f-ing cousin?", harkening the attributed "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" that led to the murder in the cathedral. 

Therefore, with all the incoherence in Megalopolis, why then do I recommend it when so many seem to despise it? In retrospect, it is because of Coppola's grand vision. I don't think many films nowadays dare to even try to be so big, so heady, so grandiose. They seem satisfied with being simple, rote, predictable. I do not think any of those words can be used to describe Megalopolis.

Stripped of a lot of its craziness, Megalopolis has many parts that are quite good. The movie has some dazzling cinematography, grand imagery unafraid to go all-in. Some sequences, such as the presentation of the Vestal Virgins, is admittedly crazed to baffling. However, visually, it is a tour de force. Other moments, such as when Catalina goes to see his wife, are also visually splendid. The film also has an excellent score by Osvaldo Colijov, which works well in the craziness of the whole thing. The production and costume design also do excellent work in creating the fantastical alternate world.

I think the performances are also quite good. Adam Driver is a skilled actor, and Megalopolis gives him a chance to be if not the sanest person here, at least a chance to create an extraordinary character. While his "Go back to the club" has become a meme, I think his delivery of the line is correct to the character: this vaguely Ayn Rand-like figure whose vision to create something eternal will not be stopped by the concerns of the present. "Don't let the now destroy the forever," he declares when presenting his vision of Megalopolis to the public. Catalina is a blend of The Fountainhead's Howard Roark, New York builder Robert Moses and creator Buckminster Fuller. Driver delivers an excellent performance.

He is matched by Esposito as his rival. Near the end, he did look a little goofy with his military helmet, making me think of Salvador Allende before Augusto Pinochet's forces iced him in the Chilean coup. Nonetheless, his mix of arrogance and love for Julia worked well. I do not know much of Emmanuel as an actress, and while I thought at times, she was a bit weak, I can put part of that on the character. Voight and LaBeouf were all-in on the cray-cray, Plaza less so. Still, I thought the performances on the whole were good.

I see that, on the whole, Megalopolis' ambitions were undone by its overall execution. With that being said, I stand by view that Megalopolis is out of control and crazed but fascinating. 

DECISION: C+