From Robert Scucci
| Published
Motion picture passion projects often share a number of common threads, which can be seen in the form of up-and-coming actors with no star power, a budget tighter than a violin string that’s ready to snap if pushed too hard , is to be expected. and the unfortunate lack of studio support that most established filmmakers have access to after they’ve proven themselves over time. Francis Ford Coppola’s latest outing, which cost $136 million Megalopolischanged the game by proving that a roster full of star actors and seemingly endless financial resources generated from Coppola’s personal fortune cannot save a film that was clearly doomed from the start.
After sitting down and watching the 138-minute dystopian sci-fi epic myself, a new through-line was added to my personal canon of passion projects: uncontrolled ego.
That said, the comparison isn’t too far-fetched Megalopolis’ themes and execution to ego-driven projects led by Tommy Wiseau or Neil Breen, two self-proclaimed authors who personally finance their projects and have little resistance to their respective unwavering, unhinged creative visions.
Money Talks
To finance yourself Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola sold his Sonoma County wineries to Delicato Family Wines for a stunning $650 million stock deal, setting aside $200 million from the deal to pursue the artistic vision he has spent 40 years trying to fully realize had. With the fortune he had amassed, Coppola was finally ready to pursue his passion project without studio interference.
“Star Power” only works when the script makes sense
With a big budget comes big talent, and there’s no shortage of A-listers Megalopolis. While it’s easy to watch B movies (or Megalopolis(which I call a high-budget B-movie) because inexperienced actors were tasked with telling a story, I realized after watching it Megalopolis that even Adam Driver couldn’t help reciting Shakespeare, bubbling around as if he were a puppet controlled by a puppeteer with a photic sneeze reflex looking straight into the studio lights before Coppola yells “Action.”
Top-class actors and a plot straight to DVD
Set in New Rome, an alternate version of New York City, Driver’s Cesar Catilina is a brilliant but troubled Nobel Prize winner and chairman of the Design Authority in New Rome, who has an idealistic blueprint for a utopia called Megalopolis. He also has the power to stop and start time on a whim, allowing him to think about how he will carry out his grandiose plans under the radar. Cesar’s intellectual and metaphysical gifts are impaired by his severe alcoholism, which began to worsen years earlier when his wife mysteriously disappeared and he was unsuccessfully tried for her murder.
Cesar’s idealistic opportunism is accompanied and opposed by the conservative mayor of New Rome, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), his directionless but opportunistic cousin Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf), his extremely wealthy uncle Hamilton Crassus III (John Voight) and his now ex-lover, a TV personality named Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza).
When Cesar suddenly and inexplicably loses his gift of time manipulation, he forms a romantic bond with Julia Cicero, Franklyn’s daughter, after realizing that her musical presence restores his artistic and time manipulation abilities, much to her father’s dissatisfaction.
Bones without meat
The general storyline too Megalopolis makes for a compelling futuristic melodrama, but everything begins to fall apart when every movable puzzle piece no longer fits together. While Coppola has no shortage of flamboyant stylistic choices to make postmodern America reminiscent of the collapse of the Roman Empire, which was at the height of excess and disorder before reaching a breaking point and falling apart entirely, style alone cannot make a story No matter how pretty it is to look at.
Instead, Megalopolis turns these cinematic bones into a pulp for the viewer to attempt to digest while being assaulted with bright colors, supposedly deceptive Vestals, sprawling cityscapes, a proletarian population in a constant state of civil and economic unrest, and John Voight pretending whether the crossbow buried under his bedsheet is actually an erection to plot revenge against his nephew Clodio, who conspired with Wow Platinum through his bank.
A cinematic spectacle
Megalopolis’ The godlike, time-manipulating, idealistic yet psychologically disintegrated protagonist reflects the same character archetypes seen in Neil Breen films Double, I’m here… now, pass thruAnd Fateful insightsto name just a few. And I assure you that the irony is not lost on me that Neil Breen was able to personally finance his own projects through fundraising and his personal fortune amassed through a successful career in architecture.
In my eyes, Coppola’s fearless creation is Megalopolis deserves considerable respect because he had a vision, remained faithful and did the thing the way he wanted to do it. The jury may be out on whether the thing in question is worth your time, but if you have a penchant for B, C, D, and Z-rated films, you owe it to yourself to see how Even the most decorated filmmakers can swing and miss without anyone questioning their vision along the way.
At this time you can watch Megalopolis on request through Amazon Prime Video, Google PlayAnd Fandango at home.
