Francis Ford Coppola, the fabled director behind classics like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has poured 40 years of his life and $120 million of his own money into his latest passion project, Megalopolis. This self-funded sci-fi epic follows an architect with the power to stop time as he attempts to rebuild a devastated metropolis as a utopia, despite facing opposition from the corrupt Mayor.
With a star-studded cast including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Aubrey Plaza, expectations are definitely high for this long-awaited film. Making Megalopolis was an expensive and laborious procedure; thus, its box office performance will have a significant influence on Coppola’s legacy in the future.
Since the movie’s May 16, 2024, Cannes Film Festival premiere, initial reviews have been released, and they are polarizing.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis: A Cinematic Revolution or a Misfire?
At its Cannes Film Festival premiere on Thursday, May 16, Francis Ford Coppola’s 138-minute, independently funded magnum opus, Megalopolis, elicited a mixed response. Having said that, journalists in attendance reported hearing boos from the crowd.
The movie is “the craziest thing [he’s] ever seen”, according to a critic from Vulture, while AV Club called Megalopolis “a magical, meandering, maddening epic”. On the other hand, the sci-fi flick is described by IndieWire as a “wild and delirious fever dream” that “inspires new hope for the future of movies”.
Se estrenó Megalopolis en el festival de Cannes y las críticas están divididas: para algunas es "un desastre", "fallida", "una tontería", "pretenciosa", y para otras es "épica", "grandilocuente", "ambiciosa" y "atrevida".
Va a ser una de las películas más polémicas del año. pic.twitter.com/6hLzElSe3T— Pablo Planovsky (@PabloPlanovsky) May 16, 2024
The film, starring Adam Driver, currently has a 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It is obvious that Coppola’s film is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, and nothing indicates that viewer reviews will reflect any different sentiment toward the picture down the road. A harsher review was published by Vanity Fair, which referred to it as the “junkiest of junk-drawer movies” and a “slapped together hash of Coppola’s many disparate inspirations”.
Flick Feast, however, writes that “one cannot help but admire Coppola’s sense of ambition”. Megalopolis, according to The Los Angeles Times, is “wildly ambitious” and “overstuffed”, but “only an uncharitable viewer would call a catastrophe”.
Thus, in an industry where safe bets and franchise reboots often rule the box office, isn’t it refreshing to see a filmmaker taking risks and pushing the boundaries of storytelling?
From Cheers to Jeers: Some of the Great Films Booed at Cannes
The Cannes Film Festival is known for showcasing some of the best films in the world, with directors and actors alike vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or award. However, not every film is met with applause. In fact, some of the greatest films in cinematic history have been booed by Cannes audiences.
One prime example is Pulp Fiction, the ground-breaking crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino. Well, it was well received when it debuted at Cannes and was not booed. Actually, a small wave of jeers broke out at the festival when the movie defeated Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors: Red to win the Palme d’Or (see THR).
It is difficult to believe now that Martin Scorsese’s incredible film Taxi Driver, about a troubled Vietnam War veteran, was booed at Cannes, but it did. The movie “drew loud boos from the crowd, many of whom streamed out of the theater ashen-faced over the film’s ultraviolent climax”, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Regardless of the reactions, the Cannes jury awarded Taxi Driver the Palme d’Or.
The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick, continued the trend of Palme d’Or winners being booed. The film was loved by most of the audience, but a small but vocal minority objected and jeered, only to have their booing drowned out by a much larger standing ovation (via Vanity Fair).
Anyway, as we await the final verdict on Megalopolis, we can’t deny that Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited, ambitious project has sparked debate and challenged our preconceived notions of cinema. Love it or hate it, the Oscar-winning director’s latest work will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on the film industry for years to come!
Megalopolis is expected to be released later this year.
