46/18
166) "intended" attacks
Narrative
The city of New Rome faces a duel between Caesar Catiline, a brilliant artist who favors a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklin Cicero. Among them is Julia Cicero, whose loyalties are divided 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 30 hours of second unit footage was shot and a table read 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 scrapped after the 9/11 attacks because the plot from the script (p. Coppola abandoned the project entirely in 2007 and did not resume development until 2019.
It’s just the same material flipped and slightly skewed
The security video of Cicero walking into Caesar’s office has two different cameras, as the small text in the upper left corner indicates. Hamilton Crassus III: What do you think of this mana die? "The Ultimate IMAX Experience" in the film version, the live actor asks questions during the filmed press conference. Reference to The John Campea Show: Adam Driver Leads Francis Ford Coppola’s New Film Megalopolis (2022). My PledgeWritten by Grace VanderWaalPerformed by Grace VanderWaal by permission of Columbia Records By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment Produced and orchestrated by Chris Kukul.
Everything that works in Megalopolis has something that doesn’t
Everyone said it was a huge meltdown, and it’s an extremely interesting mess. Parts are very creative and unlike anything else, and then there are long stretches that are completely boring. It’s 138 minutes long, but feels like it’s going past the three-hour mark. Whether that makes it seem epic enough or too dull will probably depend on the viewer. It’s also the kind of movie where I’m not sure over-analyzing will help.
Visuals that look amazing next to visually striking parts
Coppola tries to say so much in one film, and as a result, much of it comes off as silly. There were a few points during the movie where I wondered if it was all a practical joke. It might mean a lot to him, or maybe only a part of it does, and the rest of the time he’s laughing at us. Somehow I am disappointed, exhausted, confused and surprised all at once. There is a certain balance between the entertaining and the boring.
I can’t advise anyone else considering devoting 138 minutes of their limited time to this
It’s a film that movie buffs will argue about and remember while 99% of the population continues to live their lives in blissful ignorance of its existence. I can’t really decide if it would be better to be among the blissful many or the confused 1%. I’m glad I saw it, and I think it was a bit of a waste of time too.. Check out our list of exciting new films from this year’s film festivals, including Venice, TIFF, New York Film Festival and more.