Megalopolis

Written & Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Decades in the making, Coppola’s passion project, Megalopolis, makes the screen. Set in a crumbling New Rome, Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) is an idealistic designer who wants to build a utopian new city, using his new wonder material Megalon. But in a city full of corruption and a decadent ruling class Catalina’s plans have many enemies. This includes Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza) and  Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf) a spoilt son of a wealthy father. Can Catalina overcome the corruption rife in a crumbling society and build his utopia?

When I first read about Coppola’s bold and ambitious passion project, it did feel there was a  risk of it being an ill disciplined, self indulgent mess. And that concern was not unwarranted as it’s exactly what we have.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate this and bizarrely the more it went on, the more tolerant I became of it, maybe, even enjoyed it! And there’s a certain admiration for attempting this huge sprawling, Shakespearian style tragedy. But that does not change that it needed someone to reign the whole thing in and stop this bonkers mess.

The film is all over the place. It has strange injections of Shakespearian dialogue, dreamlike fantasy sequences, weird shouty line delivery and far too many moments of “what am I watching”.

But like I said, I didn’t hate it. It looks great, there’s some good performances making the most of the nonsense they have to deal with and it does come with both a sense of humour and some social commentary. But in the end, while it’s big and bold, it is a messy nonsense!

Megalopolis is bold and ambitious. But, like many passion projects, it is also an ill disciplined mess. I didn’t hate it, there were enjoyable performances, a great look, a sense of humour and some social commentary, with moments to enjoy. While bizarrely the longer it went on, the more I tolerated it, it’s hard to recommend this bizarre craziness!