{"id":29602,"date":"2024-09-26T11:35:11","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T18:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=29602"},"modified":"2024-09-26T11:35:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T18:35:11","slug":"megalopolis-is-erratic-unconventional-and-fascinating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=29602","title":{"rendered":"MEGALOPOLIS is Erratic, Unconventional and Fascinating"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 138 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film will open exclusively in theaters and on IMAX\nscreens on September 27th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, Francis Ford Coppola has been following the\nbeat of his own drummer, from commercially successful ventures like The\nGodfather<\/em> series, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders<\/em> and Bram Stoker\u2019s\nDracula<\/em>, to smaller and more intimate films including The Conversation<\/em>.\nFor the past 20 years, he\u2019s been working on even more unique and esoteric\nindependent projects like Youth Without Youth<\/em> and Tetro<\/em>, which\nhave garnered a variety of responses. If you\u2019ve read the papers recently, then\nyou may be aware that his latest venture is Megalopolis<\/em>, a self-financed\nopus with an all-star cast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This overstuffed but intriguing tale takes its inspiration from history, specifically the Fall of the Roman Republic. This story is set in the city of New Rome, which finds itself in a major crisis. The ruling class (whose fashion sense has ties to the Roman Empire) are living a life of wild excess while the angry public live in poverty. Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver) is a self-obsessed city architect with bold ideas for a future utopia that will benefit all. He also has a strange gift\u2026 the ability to briefly pause time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) doesn\u2019t believe in\nany kind of paradise on Earth and strives to maintain the status quo. This is\nof great help to the wealthiest and most powerful family in town (who also\nhappen to be related to Cesar). Members include Hamilton Crassus III (Jon\nVoight), as well as his power-hungry grandson Clodio (Shia LaBeouf). We also\nwitness scheming journalist Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza) attempting to\ningratiate and join the elites. But when Mayor Cicero\u2019s daughter Julia (Nathalie\nEmmanuel) falls for Cesar and becomes his muse, it seems there may be hope for\nthe future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clearly, there was no interference in the creation of this\nfeature, which admittedly leads to a few issues. There are several other\ncharacters and so many plot elements in this film that it is easy to get lost\nand important characters disappear for significant chunks of time. Some bits\ninclude Cesar\u2019s invention of a strange, almost organic metallic substance that\nhe hopes to use in his new designs (the screenplay never really gets into much\ndetail about the material, but it\u2019s probably for the best). The script is so\nbusy that the plot requires narration from Cesar\u2019s driver Fundi Romaine\n(Laurence Fishburn). There is constant jumping between storylines and elements\nget lost in the shuffle. Early scenes do feel stilted and there are many\nlengthy, perhaps overly earnest declarations from the protagonist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, one might assume so far that I didn\u2019t care for the\npicture. But a funny thing happened as I was watching it. After the first act,\nthis reviewer became accustomed to the exaggerated voices and rhythms of the\ncharacters. And the imagery on display is consistently spectacular to behold.\nWhether Cesar is standing atop the Chrysler Building, driving past gigantic\nstatues of Lady Justice falling over and other figures crumbling in defeat, as\nwell as surreal visions, or even the designs for the new utopia, all visual\nelements are gorgeously shot by cinematographer Mihai M\u0103laimare Jr. (The\nMaster, Jojo Rabbit<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are also scenes between cast members that do come to\nlife. Bits involving an arena audience and wealthy, loafing attendees in a\nColiseum-like environment cheering on a performer really do create interesting\nconnections between today\u2019s celebrity obsessed-culture and crowds in ancient\nRome. So do the avaricious political moves and the sinister conspiracy in which\ncharacters attempt to take complete control of the city. It\u2019s easy to see\nallusions to events currently taking place and the horrors of where it all could\nultimately lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, despite all the serious goings on, the movie does\nhave a sense of humor. Admittedly, some of these sections may be misinterpreted\nas being more serious than intended. But the more exaggerated moments,\nincluding the fates of a couple of characters through bizarre (but thematically\nconsistent) means, raised a smile on the part of this viewer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yes, the movie has its own tone and does not follow\nHollywood formula. In some respects, it feels like Coppola\u2019s later arthouse\nwork with experimental elements, only this time with a bigger budget. Upon\nfirst viewing, the story is confounding at several points. But, in my opinion,\nthis is also a wonderful thing. It is something we don\u2019t see anymore, and that\nis a very distinctive personal vision from a man who is following the beat of\nits own drummer. For all of its eccentricities, the film is never boring,\nultimately ending on a constructive, sweet and hopeful note. Personally, I\nwould be interested in visiting Megalopolis<\/em> again. And this time, I\u2019ll\ntry not to worry about story structure and instead let the events and mood take\nme along for the ride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 138 minutes This film will open exclusively in theaters and on IMAX screens on September 27th. For decades, Francis Ford Coppola has been following the beat of his own drummer, from commercially successful ventures like The Godfather series, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders and Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula, to smaller and more intimate films including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":29603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215,724,1957,6251,7314,7813,8024,8293,10978,13634,13635,13636,13637,14601,18258],"class_list":["post-29602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-215","tag-adam-driver","tag-aubrey-plaza","tag-drama","tag-fantasy","tag-francis-ford-coppola","tag-futuristic","tag-giancarlo-esposito","tag-jon-voight","tag-megalopolis","tag-megalopolis-film-review","tag-megalopolis-movie-review","tag-megalopolis-review","tag-nathalie-emmanuel","tag-shia-labeouf"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}