By Robert Scucci
| Published
Cinematic passion projects often share a predictable line-up in the form of up-and-coming actors without star power, with budgets tighter than a violin string when under extreme pressure. and the failure of studio support, which most established filmmakers have been able to achieve over time after proving themselves. Francis Ford Coppola's latest outing, $136 million MegapolisCoppola's personal fortune changed the game, proving that a cast of A-list actors and seemingly endless financial resources could not save a film that was clearly doomed from the start.
After sitting down and watching the 138-minute dystopian sci-fi epic by myself, a new line was added to my personal head canon for passion projects: the unchecked ego.
So it's not a huge stretch to compare Megapolis Running themes and ego driven projects by Tommy Wiseau or Neil Breen.
Money Negotiations
To finance itself Megapolis, Francis Ford Coppola He sold his Sonoma County wineries to Delicato Family Wines for an intimidating stock deal worth $650 million, taking $200 million out of the deal to realize his artistic vision, which he's been trying to fully realize for 40 years. With the fortune he had amassed, Coppola was finally ready to develop his passion project without any studio interference.
Star Power Only Works If The Scenario Makes Sense
With a high-caliber budget comes high-caliber talent, and there's no shortage of A-listers on offer. Megapolis. While it's easy to blame B-movies (or Megapolisthis is what I call a high-budget B-movie) because inexperienced actors are tasked with telling the story, which became clear to me after watching it. Megapolis even Adam Driver Before Coppola shouted “action,” he couldn't help himself from reading Shakespeare as he squealed like a marionette, controlled by a puppeteer with a sneeze reflex and staring directly into the studio lights.
A-List Cast And Straight-to-DVD Plot
Set in New Rome, an alternate version of New York City, Driver Caesar Catilina is a brilliant but troubled Nobel Prize-winning architect and chairman of the Design Organization in New Rome, who has an idealistic plan for a utopia known as Megalopolis. He also has the power to stop and start time on a whim, allowing him to think of how to carry out his grandiose plans under the radar. Caesar's intellectual and metaphysical abilities are hampered by his severe alcoholism, which began spiraling years ago when his wife mysteriously disappeared and was not prosecuted for her murder.
Caesar's idealistic opportunism is accompanied and opposed by the conservative mayor of New Rome, Franklin Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), his directionless but opportunistic cousin Claudio Pulcher.Shia LaBeouf), his extremely wealthy uncle Hamilton Crassus III (John Voight) and his now ex-girlfriend, a television personality named Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza).
When Caesar suddenly loses his gift of time manipulation, he becomes romantically involved with Franklin's daughter, Julia Cicero, much to his father's dismay after realizing that her muse has restored his artistic and time-manipulating abilities.
Bones without meat
General plot line Megapolis makes for a compelling futuristic melodrama, but it all starts to fall apart when each sliding puzzle piece fails to connect. Style alone cannot tell a story, even without Coppola's extravagant stylistic choices to resemble the collapse of the Roman Empire at the height of excess and disorder before postmodern America reaches its breaking point and collapses completely. no matter how beautiful it is to look at.
Instead, Megapolis it makes its cinematic bones in vivid color, supposedly deluded Vestal Virgins, sprawling cityscapes, a proletariat population in a constant state of civil and economic unrest, and a mush that the viewer can try to digest as they attack it with Jon Voight. pretending to have a crossbow buried under his sheets is actually a revenge erection against his nephew Claudio, who conspired with Wow Platinum to take over his bank.
Cinematic Spectacle
Megapolis The godly, time-manipulating, idealistic yet psychologically unraveling protagonist embodies the same character archetypes you'll see in Neil Breen films. Double down, I'm Here… Pass Nowand Fateful findingsto name a few. I assure you, the irony is not lost on me that Neil Breen was able to personally fund his projects with the personal wealth he amassed through a successful career in finance and architecture.
In my opinion, Coppola's fearless creation Megapolis deserves great respect because he had vision, stuck to his guns and did thing how he wanted to do it. The jury will be out on whether or not the thing in question is worth your time, but if you have a penchant for B, C, D, and Z-level movies, you owe it to yourself to see how even the most famous filmmakers can swing. and miss without challenging anyone's vision along the way.
You can see according to this article Megalopolis on-demand through Amazon Prime Video, Google Playand Fandango at home.
