There once was a time when a combination of the words ‘Coppola’, ‘freedom’, and ‘passion project’ would have elicited tremendous excitement among film fans. Granted, the last time that would have happened would have been a few decades ago, but nevertheless, as surreal as it might seem now, this is still the filmmaker that between the years 1972 and 1979 gave us one of the all time great runs in cinematic history with The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now. Wildly varying quality between projects outside of that sequence, Francis Coppola remains one of the most impressive American directors to have ever done it.
All of which just makes everything about Megalopolis so funny, sad, and interesting all at once. Coppola’s long-gestating grand passion project finally released this year, and it was immediately received as a bloated, incoherent, nonsensical dud. Ambitious? Sure. In the way that a child’s stream of consciousness crayon living room wall art can be ambitious. But the incredible control and layered depth that Coppola used to be able to combine with that ambition seems like a distant dream now in the face of this sad spectacle.
How do you explain a film like Megalopolis? Ego? The breakdown of auteur theory? Capitalism (yes, always yes)? Who knows! Maybe Ryan George and the team over at ‘pitch meeting’ can give it a go: