Every great artist occasionally has a vision that makes so much sense in its conception. It's just that in order to express that vision to other people in the same fashion, sometimes, it's well, for the most part, impossible. That's why Francis Ford Coppola is following in Kevin Costner (the Horizon: An American Saga films)'s footsteps this year. Both artists had visions that only fully made sense in conception to them. Megalopolis, Coppola's latest, isn't as hard to sit through as Costner's first Horizon picture because the science-fiction Megalopolis is about forty-minutes shorter and is more concise and to the point. Taking place in a city called New Rome, Coppola's latest saga drips with ambition and features a cast which works hard but it all feels like something's missing and that's a compelling plot that goes beyond the basics of a heavily dramatic soap opera.
Adam Driver stars in the picture as the brilliant Cesar Catilina, a man with big ideas for the future who is of great integrity and who gets to have at least two women yearning for his affections in the film. Aubrey Plaza plays a television reporter called Wow Platinum who goes through the motions, sometimes complaining about her job and basically looking for Cesar's affections. The real woman of Cesar's dreams, though, is Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the daughter of the straight-laced Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). It's seemingly a match made in heaven as Cesar is full of lofty ideas to change New Rome around for the better and he inspires Julia who, in turn, inspires him as well.
One particular scene has Julia writing a letter and following up on it with Cesar who admits he's opened and read it. Julia is so sincere in this scene, she feels too good to be true. Her dad has serious issues with Cesar and Coppola's film has the tensions mount between Mayor Cicero and Cesar so that there will be plenty of suspense as to whether or not Cesar and Julia will be able to ride off into the sunset together.
Jon Voight serves as Hamilton Crassus III, a key character embroiled in the action here, and this role comes on the heels of his work in Reagan this past summer. Voight shoots two people with a bow and arrow (or something like that) while posing this said bow and arrow as an erection of his as he hides it under a blanket. Automatically, Voight becomes a candidate for Worst Supporting Actor when taking into his acting in the two recent films. Dustin Hoffman plays a minor role in the new Coppola picture too as Nush 'The Fixer' Berman and, while as much as people wanted to see a Midnight Cowboy actors reunion, this wasn't the way to bring the two legendary actors together again. Hoffman fares only moderately better than Voight here.
Shia LaBeouf is almost unrecognizable in this Coppola film as a flawed character (Cesar's cousin) known as Clodio Pulcher who gets his just desserts by the film's end. Though the actor takes a few big risks here, the performance by LaBeouf only works in spurts. It's not his finest hour, unfortunately.
What can you say about Driver? He recites part of the "To Be Or Not To Be" speech and commands the audience's attention but the role never really takes off like a Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. Why would I compare Driver's role here to the ones in Star Wars? I just got Star Wars vibes from the role, for whatever reason. Maybe it's because Driver has appeared in a Star Wars picture or two over the years. Nathalie Emmanuel scores much better in her performance within the film, adding an earnestness that the actress hasn't shown in many of her other screen roles. She's fully committed to the movie and it fully shows on-screen.
There is a plus side to all this. Coppola's film's set design is potentially Oscar-worthy and the world-building is strong. The setting draws the viewer into the plot but one could wish for a more complicated story line than the one Coppola wrote. Aubrey Plaza, on the other hand, disappoints with her least compelling performance of the year. She's much better suited for her small comic role in My Old Ass. It's hard to take her seriously here in some of her more dramatic moments.
Laurence Fishburne is the movie's other key player as he takes on the role of Fundi Romaine and more or less succeeds in a very distinct, if ultimately threadbare, part within the picture. Kathryn Hunter appears in scenes with Giancarlo Esposito as well and these two old pros comes up aces in their respective turns with Esposito creating a multi-faceted politician with more depth on-screen than, perhaps, what was on the page.
Megalopolis doesn't ask the viewer too many hard questions but it asks a few. It suggests that Driver's Cesar and Emmanuel's Julia could just change the way of society through their exhausting but rewarding efforts. With all the idealism found in Megalopolis, there is also some inspiration to be discovered at the end of the film as well. Esposito, Emmanuel and Driver work well together despite other problematic aspects with the movie as a whole.
Look for Talia Shire in a brief appearance as well as Jason Schwartzman who both take on brief, but relatively substantial roles as well. If Megalopolis is Francis Ford Coppola's swan song, let's give him credit for being super creative whether or not that creativity amounted to something anyone other than Coppola (and possibly his family) could truly love. Justice will probably be appointed to this movie one day in the form of a more detail-oriented director's cut.