‘Megalopolis‘ (2024) is Francis Ford Coppola‘s life project. He started working on it and talking about it while filming ‘Apocalypse Now.’ He read scripts and discussed castings with entire generations of great actors. Many of them left to the stars in the sky and did not live to work on the project. Over the course of his career, Coppola produced three films on his own dime. The first two left him in debt and he had to make other films and sell wine for several decades to pay off the debts and raise money to make ‘Megalopolis‘. This is a monumental and mad movie, spectacular and pathetic, personal and brilliant, full of so many qualities and flaws that no one but himself would have accepted or risked financing it. It’s a movie that will probably lose money, but one that Coppola could not give up making. And no one else could have made it.
‘New Rome’ is an alternative vision of our not too distant future. Most of the filming was done with New York in mind. The characters are dressed and their hair cut in a way that combines Modern America with Ancient Rome. In this retro-futuristic Rome, the visionary inventor Cesar Catalina and the conservative mayor Cicero face each other. Cesar has invented the material of the future and plans to rebuild the city according to plans that may be the only ones that could save the metropolis and the planet. Reconstruction from the ground up, however, means shaking the order that allows the rich to live a life of luxury and debauchery, but also the destruction of the houses and the way of life of the plebeian crowd. At the head of the opposing forces is the town’s corrupt mayor. When Cesar falls in love with Julia, Cicero’s daughter, the plot gets complicated. Where is the city and the world going in the film? What is the role and power of love? Is the New Rome our world?
The Shakespearean structure and ambitions are obvious. The conflicts recall the treacherous labyrinths of the Bard’s historical plays, while the narrative structure and parables draw inspiration from dramas about ancient history. Visually, the film is impressive. The overflowing imagination of the screenwriter and director Coppola build a city-world, where the debauchery of antiquity meets the lights of New York or Vegas. The director of cinematography is Mihai Malaimare Jr., who has accompanied Coppola in his productions for almost two decades. The cinematic model cannot be, I think, other than Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’. The list of actors who wanted to participate in this film and managed to enter the credits is very long. Outstanding creations make, in my opinion, in this film Adam Driver – a Cesar who acquires, loses and regains through love the power to control time -, Giancarlo Esposito as the enemy or Cicero, Nathalie Emmanuel – beautiful and expressive as Julia -, and Jon Voight as the old tycoon Crassus, a character who brings together and combines Roman and American corruption. I can’t help but notice the presence of Dustin Hoffman. Every role he adds to his filmography is a treasure, even if here the role is not too generous. The script sometimes forgets some of its narrative threads, but in the end the spectacular show overwhelms. ‘Megalopolis‘ has so far had a rather negative reception from critics and part of the audiences. I am convinced that its appreciation will grow over time and that in not many decades it will become a cult film. At the press conference after the world premiere in Cannes, Coppola assured us that this would not be his last film. I hope so. Utopia doesn’t always have to end in dystopia.