Megalopolis (2024)

Sometimes films are just such a legendary spectacle they need to be seen to be believed. Yet even with the troubled tale of the making of Megalopolis from its long gestation through its troubled production,  once you see it the film remains shockingly bombastic, messy, incoherent, spectacular, and confused. It is a film about the future that is regressively old fashioned. It is a film about corrupting power which relies on a "great man" archetype. Megalopolis is top heavy yet also weightless. It is a self proclaimed "fable" which doesn't adhere to realism and throws consistency to the wind, yet it is also disappointingly predictable in its narrative and conventional in its morality. It both acts timeless yet references specifics of our time. I think I wanted it to be a triumphant expression of an artist's desire, good or bad, yet it ends up feeling much like an argument against artistic roughshod. 

I think there are some good intentions here in how the film attempts to portray how selfish ambition aligns with simple populism to stand in the way of progress. I think there is a desire to explore an idealism for some political magnanimity in producing utopia. But the film's inability to see beyond centring some visionary leader, and male leader at that, restrains itself. The idea of empire and civilization as stabilizing forces, in danger from corrupting forces, only to be saved by the right sort of hero, is disappointingly myopic. The final triumph of the film feels false and cold. 

But the film is just so damn incredible to watch. It doesn't have any consistent visual palate and instead feels chaotic in its throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach. Often I found myself just fascinated with what I was seeing, only to be pulled out of the story as it felt more a veneer than cogently part of the narrative. I love a bold film maker vision (I'm here for the Baz Luhrmann's of the world) but when it feels like you could knock it over with a strong cough...

Overall Megalopolis is most disappointing in just how little it is. The ideas are small, the story is narrow, the characters are one dimensional. I was prepared to be overwhelmed by a bold vision and felt I was just exposed to some thinly connected sidenotes. Still I'm glad I saw it. I just wish it offered me more to talk about. 

Megalopolis

Starring: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, DB Sweeney, Balthazar Getty

Writer/Director: Francis Ford Coppola