Megalopolis

 

Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis intrigues with its bold blending of Shakespeare and Fellini (part Julius Caesar and part Satyricon) and a host of visual homages to 1927's Metropolis and 1955's The Night of the Hunter and to the tableaux of Stanley Kubrick and Peter Greenaway. It is more of a feast for cinephiles than a satisfying meal for casual moviegoers.

Coppola wrote, directed and produced this "fable" about an architectural genius / master of time and space Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver) who has been contracted by the people of the future city New Rome (a remade/remodeled New York) to turn it into a model of sustainable, soul-enriching urban living, using not concrete and steel but a highly malleable material with properties that will last forever.

Catalina's vision is opposed by the city's mayor, Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who wants solutions to more immediate problems -- affordable housing being most pressing. They represent the eternal conflict between idealism and pragmatism.

Animosity between the two men extends back to Cicero's prosecution of Catalina on charges related to the drowning death of Catalina's wife, whose body subsequently went missing. Catalina was exonerated of her murder.

Catalina's efforts are underwritten by his aging uncle Crassus (Jon Voight), who is smitten by Catalina's mistress, a television reporter named Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza). Platinum eventually consorts with the old man and begins to plot his ruin.

Crassus, like King Lear, is surrounded by many nefarious underlings, most notably grandson Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf), whose unabashed greed and need for attention might sound familiar to some. Clodio (oh, the names in this picture!) is a scheming rabble-rouser trying to work both sides against the middle, and LaBeouf might deliver the most entertaining performance.

No epic is worthy of the name without a romantic subplot as counterpoint to the politics. Coppola invests a lot in the pairing of the indefatigable Driver with British beauty Nathalie Emmanuel, who plays the beloved daughter of Catalina's nemesis Cicero. (Cue "A Time for Us" from Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet [1968].)

The picture is graced with featured turns from Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter and Dustin Hoffman.

Yes, Megalopolis is crammed full of acting notables and notions, stunning images and ideas, but, as others have said, it lacks true coherence. It's an expressive venture from a master of the cinematic arts that will have audience's talking more about HOW the movie was made more than what it MEANS.