“When does an empire die? Does it collapse in one terrible moment? No, no … But there comes a time when its people no longer believe in it.”
We all have dreams. There are achievements that some people spend a lifetime to attain. Sometimes we realize our dreams, and it can make for one of the happiest moments in our lives. Other times we find our dreams weren’t all we thought they would be. Often there are dreams we simply never attain. I know what it’s like to spend the better part of your life chasing something. it’s often magical, and the journey is the greatest reward of all. But sometimes our dreams turn into nightmares. For Francis Ford Coppola, he has apparently been obsessed with the dream that is Megalopolis for over 40 years. That dream is about to become a nightmare. What is perhaps worse is that he was compelled to share his dream with the world. Now we all can have the same nightmare. I lucid dream, so I am literally incapable of having a nightmare. But the nearly three hours I spent watching Megalopolis must come about as close as I’m going to get. I guess in a way I should thank the man. Maybe it’s not too late to change the film’s title to Welcome To My Nightmare … oh, wait. Alice Cooper already did that. Too bad.
Let me start by saying I love Coppola. In my humble opinion he has directed three of the greatest films in the history of the industry. I refer of course to the first two Godfather films and Apocalypse Now. He’s also directed some other good films. But Megalopolis is the film no studio wanted. That hasn’t always been a bad thing for Coppola. The fights he had to cast and film The Godfather are legendary and the subject of a wonderful mini-series, The Offer. So the man is no stranger to knowing his ideas are often better than any studio. But here the studios might have been onto something. So he sells his vineyard for 25% of another company and mortgaged that 25% to finance the film on his own. He took a flyer, much as Kevin Costner has taken recently, with, unfortunately, the same kind of return on the dollar. Megalopolis is NEVER going to make what he put into it, and I’m going to tell you why.
The film is a modern take on the Roman Empire. We get characters with names like Cesar Catilina, played by Adam Driver. Cesar has a vision for the future. He wants to tear down what is already there and build it all up new and exciting. Also he may or may not have the ability to stop time. The honest truth is I’m not sure if that’s real or a metaphor, or maybe both. We get Mayor Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito. He may or may not be corrupt, but with a good heart. Clodio Pulcher, played by Shia LaBeouf, is the big competition. He appeals to the baser instincts of the mob. The mayor’s daughter is Julia Cicero, who takes up with Cesar and may or may not be part of his time-stopping power. At least she appears to be his muse. The film interweaves a fable between these characters with a strong cast of actors. La Beouf is actually at the top of his game here. I thought Hollywood had pretty much written him off, but he’s oddly exotic and compelling here. There is no doubt this is an awesome cast, and they gave us as much as anyone could with the limits of what was written. There could be some nominations for acting here and also for production design. There are some nice moments where the cinematography exceeds the film’s other aspects. You’ll find a lot of Fritz Lang influence here, and I have to ask myself if the name’s closeness to his iconic Metropolis was no accident.
The film looks amazing. Coppola pushes the envelope of what you can put on a screen, and I will confess that the film can be absolutely mesmerizing at times. The look of this modern Roman Empire takes the basics of what we know as New York and builds a futuristic world that has both beauty and dystopian images. These images clash, and there’s certainly a story to be found here. I’m just not sure how many people are willing to make the effort to find it. Coppola does not make it easy at all. I can’t really give you any more story beats here, because frankly I’m not sure I understand 80% of the film. But I was given some hints both within the film itself and from the live sat-link interview the press were given before the film. It featured Coppola, DeNiro (who is not in the film), and Spike Lee. I expected them to talk about the film more. I was disappointed. What they did talk a lot about is Donald Trump, and now it all comes together, complete with a red baseball cap thrown at a couple of characters being strung up by their feet.
Politics makes for bad business and often worse films. It doesn’t matter where you are in the political division of our current state here in the United States. The problem is that he spent a fortune of his own money on something that’s already really a mess and will piss off half of his potential audience. The bigger problem is that likely in a short time the film will be irrelevant, and that’s a big investment for a movie with an expiration date. Not only will it fail at the box office today, but tomorrow no one will even remember it. That’s a shame. There’s no expiration date on The Godfather. The themes and performances are forever. And that’s what I’m going to do as soon as I have about seven hours on my hands. I have to watch both Godfather films and wash the taste of this out of my mouth. That’s the way I’d like to remember Francis Ford Coppola. And I will, and there’s nothing more to say about that. If you’re hungry for some great Coppola, your time is better spent watching one of his great films instead of sitting in your local cinema and watching the man’s failures. “Don’t let the now destroy the forever.”
