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Did we ever have a thread for Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis? A quick search suggests just one post, but perhaps more people have seen it by now.
Personally, it was the best of films, it was the worst of films. A plot that is barely there, constantly jumping from one thread to the other. Direction which swings from "yes, this is supposed to be so bad it's good" to "hey look how amazing I am at directing". Driver's main character can stop time just for no reason at all. For that matter, Driver and Esposito are called Catilina and Cicero, but the plot doesn't follow the Cataline conspiracy at all, and Catalina is also called Ceasar for some reason. The main macguffin of megalon is never explained, nor is Catalina's plan for the city. At the end there's some bizarre futuristic landscape that you accept, it really comes out of nowhere. None of the characters seem to have coherent motivations.
And despite all of that, this is an incredible watch. It's not been a great year for film thus far, but this was easily the best film of the year, ahead of the likes of the Substance, Challengers, and Mad Max. The cast is near perfect and know exactly how to play it from the serious to the scenery chewing (with the exception of Emmanuel, who should be someone who can act like they can't act, rather than someone who just can't act at all). Jon Voight whipping out a bow and arrow from his giant erection is easily the best scene of the year. After a too indulgent and even trollish first hour, Coppola just goes all out on the screen. It's often stunning and often hideous. I'm still not really sure how deliberate Coppola is throughout the film; some stuff is so blatant you have to believe he intended it to be bad, but when it gets good it gets really good as well. Did he just lose control, lack oversight? Who knows? The bad stuff is often hilarious and the good stuff is just good.
I really can't blame a lot of viewers and critics for not liking or understanding the film, it is really quite incoherent in a lot of places. Nonetheless, highly recommended
I watched jt in the theater and it has to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I was rooting for it, since I knew going in that Copolla was going against the cultural grain.
Nathalie Emmanuel's performance is the worst I've ever seen on film. The dialogue between her and Driver are a joke, and delivered with zero chemistry. Aubrey Plaza is hilariously unconvincing.
The themes are broadcast in screaming capital letter, absolutely zero subtlety. "What do you think is the most important institution?" "Marriage" with no further comment.
There are a few good visual pieces but mostly it's a blown out, blurry mess when it tries to get fancy.
Then there's the fucking crossbow scene.
It gave me a lot to think about how such a great artist can put out such total drek.
I couldn't find the crossbow scene but I did find this scene, and wow.
Yeah that scene captures the movie well, it's not just rough or forgetful, but kind of a jaw droppingly overwritten, stilted, over budget high school play.
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Have you seen Heretic yet? Because that's my winner this year, it's great. I am looking forward to Megalopolis though, although less now than I was five minutes ago lol.
No, I don't really care for horror so it probably wouldn't do much for me. I'm expecting Anora to take the top spot once I get round to it given Baker's films are always good
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One thing I realized in reflection is when Caesar Catalina can stop time, he's a stand in for the director. So the love story between Catalina and Julia, released in the same year Francis Ford Coppola's wife passed away, and she also has the film dedicated to her, I think can help explain some of the disjointed story.
Another thought, the tone of Megapolis feels like an old-school studio made epic picture. Big name cast (Lawrence Fishburne, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman are in total background rolls) big name director, very lofty original storyline. But it is a self-produced feature, studios refused to make it (and how much money it lost seems they were right). My thought is there is less of an appetite for studios for original epics, so movie like Megapolis will never be made in the future. Hence we are stuck with reboots rehashes rather than wholly new.
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I've watched the first hour in two half hour sittings, yet to make it to the end.
Pretty limp competition. I think my picks for best of the year are Late Night With The Devil and Strange Darling, neither of which are unmissable.
Typical for most years, there wasn't much at Cannes this time round and a lot of the Oscar bait will come out December/January.
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I found it underwhelming, a 3/10. Some ideas were good, but the aesthetics were clumsy and outdated, with most scenes and storylines coming across as cheesy and vulgar. It felt like Coppola was torn between making an epic peplum or a movie that didn’t take itself seriously, and it completely fell flat for me.
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Did you see it in a theater or is it on a streaming platform? We have a big TV and soundbar which is an approximation of a theater, if not quite there.
Just at home on a large TV. While plenty of the film is nice to look at, it's not a film I'd say needs the cinema experience
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