REVIEW: "Megalopolis" (2024)


WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on October 2, 2024. 

Francis Ford Coppola has made what many consider to be some of the greatest films of all-time, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now (both staples of the 1970s that are still being viewed, analyzed, and revisited to this day). That being said, most of Coppola’s credits have been adaptations of books, each retaining the respective names of the original authors, from Mario Puzo to Bram Stoker and John Grisham. Megalopolis may be the legendary filmmaker’s most personal film to date—and the first to bear his name in the title. It’s also been getting a polarizing response from critics and audiences since it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. 

This is an ambitious project that Coppola—who self-financed the thing, through his company American Zoetrope—had been wanting to make since the 1980s. The story features a 21st Century Roman city in America (aptly named, “New Rome”), where politics, the media, and society are in chaos, and where a well-known, and possibly megalomaniacal, architect (played by Adam Driver) envisions a better future for the next generation (“Don’t let the now destroy the forever”) while also falling for the city mayor (a superb Giancarlo Esposito)’s daughter. 

On the surface, Megalopolis is a skilled and visual marvel. It features a stellar cast (including screen veterans like Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, and Talia Shire), as well as a bold color scheme and editing style that make it feel like a fever dream. The first scene ever released on social media finds Driver’s Cesar Catilina standing atop the Chrysler Building, about to leap off until he literally stops/freezes time. And there are other jaw-dropping moments like that throughout, such as when Cesar and his chauffeur (the always-dynamic Laurence Fishburne) witness city statues come to life and collapse on rainy streets, or when Cesar and his love-interest (Natalie Emmanuel) stand on cranes floating in the sky. 

Along with those visual and visceral effects, the film is full of thought-provoking and sophisticated ideas about society, the passage and length of time, and embodying the philosophies we stand by. There’s no denying it does things that are rarely accomplished in cinema, as artistic expression and as a means of conversation. But the story of Megalopolis—and its execution—is also a convoluted and maddening one. 

It revels in partying, violent spectacle (archival footage of World War II and 9/11 make brief appearances), and other salacious content, including a pair of siblings that are intimate with each other (really?), as well as visual references to oral sex, infidelity, purity and impurity. The drama, archetypes, and dialogue may evoke Shakespearean and/or Ancient Greek figures, but they sometimes come across as soap-opera-ish and ridiculous. In addition, the film’s worldview seems to favor science, physics, and evolution, over God and spirituality, despite some of the awe-inspiring imagery resembling a Garden of Eden. It even changes the Pledge of Allegiance, which is really concerning. 

Overall, Megalopolis leaps into the unknown with style and thought, but it isn’t all beneficial or constructive. To paraphrase another line in the film, critics and audiences are left to decide if the film is playing cards or rewriting history. 

#filmfreeq #bekerianreviews #21stcenturycinema #americanzoetrope #lionsgate #francisfordcoppola #megalopolis2024

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