There had been a recent social media trend that claimed that men, at least once a day, thought about ancient Rome. While mostly it had set off a chain of silly viral videos, there was one man who really had been dreaming about Rome seriously: Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather) … and that too, about 50-odd years ago.

Although Megalopolis was only shot in late 2022, I first read about Coppola’s long-festering idea, about the construction of a futuristic utopia, in the early 2000s. Then, a few years later, I heard about his dissatisfaction with the studio system and his adamant resolve to self-fund and self-distribute the film through American Zoetrope, his production banner.

I won’t go into the long, arduous path to the realisation of the film — one can read about it online — but it may turn out to be more fascinating than Megalopolis itself. In the interim, Coppola sporadically made movies.

The last film I saw of Coppola’s was the adaptation of John Grisham’s The Rainmaker, a Paramount release in 1997. Since then, Coppola has written and directed Youth Without Youth (2007), Tetro (2009) and Twixt (2011); as a filmmaker, until I had seen Megalopolis, I had no idea what Coppola’s current directorial touch had remoulded into.

Director Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, his vision of ancient Rome set in a futuristic America, is a bit of a mess

Let’s just say that one’s fears may have been realised.

According to the synopsis: “Megalopolis is a Roman epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina [Adam Driver], a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero [Giancarlo Esposito], who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests and partisan warfare.

“Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero [Nathalie Emmanuel], the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.”

I don’t think I could have worded it much better … or for that matter, any reviewer may have been able to.

Coppola’s film is indulgent — but that was to be expected. The story is simple, but one may find it difficult getting behind the rampant, chaotic nature of the people running the show. At a certain level of imagination, Megalopolis captures the perception of ancient Rome that has been transfused into current America.

The story takes inspiration from the Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 BC, but one can see the parallels Coppola draws between then and today … if they squint really hard and tilt their heads 90-degrees to the right.

There is a semi-nightmarish segment in the middle of the wedding reception of Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), a power-hungry TV presenter, and Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), Cesar’s wealthy uncle, where Clodio (Shia Lebouf), Crassus’s half-bonkers nephew, plays a video that shows a sex scandal between Cesar and Vesta (Grace VanderWaal), a teenage popstar who showcases her virginal image.

As Cesar rolls with punches — the incident holds little narrative weight — Vesta uses the damage to turn her career around 180 degrees, adopting a rebellious, sexually charged persona. This is but one small incident in a string of incidents that highlights the moral corruption of the celebrities and the elite, whose conceited personalities leave little room to think about the people.

Although Coppola may say that he wants to do something different, his indulgence — and the avant garde approach to let his actors perform unleashed (one can see that from the performances) — places him on a similar pedestal. Megalopolis is a difficult, yet fascinating film to watch…if, that is, one is willing to indulge Coppola.

As a motion picture, it is not bad but, then again, given the interest in more streamlined stories and genres, this may turn out to be a grand mess for the masses. Where it stands ultimately in the annals of cinema, I can’t tell you for sure now. Like Coppola, let me dream about Rome (and its parallels with America) for a few decades and get back to you.

Released by Lionsgate, Megalopolis is rated R, and features substandard computer-generated imagery and visual effects, and sexual situations in a plot that leads to a somewhat coherent story. The film also stars Lawrence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman and Dustin Hoffman in small, wasted roles

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 6th, 2024