CANNES, France (AP) 鈥 Francis Ford Coppola on Thursday premiered his self-financed opus 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 at the Cannes Film Festival, unveiling a wildly ambitious passion project the 85-year-old director has been pondering for decades.
Reviews ranged from 鈥渁 folly of gargantuan proportions" to 鈥渢he craziest thing I've ever seen.鈥 But most assuredly, once again, Coppola had everyone in Cannes talking.
No debut this year was awaited with more curiosity in Cannes than 鈥淢egalopolis,鈥 which Coppola poured $120 million of his own money into after selling off a portion of his wine estate. Not unlike , 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 arrived trailed by rumors of production turmoil and doubt over its potential appeal.
What Coppola unveiled defies easy categorization. It鈥檚 a fable set in a futuristic New York about an architect (Adam Driver) who has a grand vision of a more harmonious metropolis, and whose considerable talents include the ability to start and stop time. Though 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 is set in a near-future, it鈥檚 fashioned as a Roman epic. Driver鈥檚 character is named Cesar and the film鈥檚 New York includes a modern Coliseum.
The cast includes Aubrey Plaza as an ambitious TV journalist named Wow Platinum, Giancarlo Esposito as the mayor, Laurence Fishburne as Cesar鈥檚 driver (and the film鈥檚 narrator) and Shia LaBeouf as an unpleasant cousin named Claudio.
Coppola, wearing a straw hat and holding a cane, walked the Cannes carpet Thursday, often clinging to the arm of his granddaughter, Romy Coppola Mars, while the soundtrack to 鈥淭he Godfather鈥 played over festival loudspeakers.
After the screening, the Cannes audience stood in a lengthy ovation for Coppola and the film. The director eventually took the microphone to emphasize his movie's ultimate meaning.
鈥淲e are one human family and that's who we should pledge our allegiance to,鈥 Coppola told the crowd. He added that Esperanza is 鈥渢he most beautiful word in the English language鈥 because it means hope.
Many reviews were blisteringly bad. Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian called it 鈥渕egabloated and megaboring.鈥 Tim Grierson for Screen Daily called it a 鈥渄isaster鈥 鈥渟tymied by arbitrary plotting and numbing excess.鈥 Kevin Maher for the Times of London wrote that it's a 鈥渉ead-wrecking abomination.鈥 Critic Jessica Kiang said 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 鈥渋s a folly of such gargantuan proportions it鈥檚 like observing the actual fall of Rome.鈥
But some critics responded with admiration for the film's ambition. With fondness, New York Magazine's Bilge Ebiri said the film 鈥渕ight be the craziest thing I've ever seen.鈥 David Ehrlich for IndieWire praised a 鈥渃reatively unbound approach鈥 that 鈥渕ay not have resulted in a surplus of dramatically coherent scenes, but it undergirds the entire movie with a looseness that makes it almost impossible to look away.鈥
鈥淚s it a distancing work of hubris, a gigantic folly, or a bold experiment, an imaginative bid to capture our chaotic contemporary reality, both political and social, via the kind of large-canvas, high-concept storytelling that鈥檚 seldom attempted anymore?鈥 wrote David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter. "The truth is it鈥檚 all those things."
鈥淢egalopolis鈥 is dedicated to Eleanor Coppola, the director鈥檚 wife
Coppola is seeking a distributor for 鈥淢egalopolis.鈥 Ahead of its premiere, the film was acquired for some European territories. Richard Gelfond, IMAX鈥檚 chief executive, said 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 鈥 which Coppola believes is best viewed on IMAX 鈥 will play globally on the company鈥檚 large-format screens.
In numerous places in 鈥淢egalopolis,鈥 Coppola, who once penned the book 鈥淟ive Cinema and its Techniques,鈥 experimentally pushes against filmmaking convention. At a screening Thursday, a man emerged mid-film, walked across the stage to a microphone and posed a question to Driver鈥檚 character on the screen above.
Several weeks ahead of Cannes, Coppola privately screened 鈥淢egalopolis鈥 in Los Angeles. Word quickly filtered out that many were befuddled by the experimental film they had just watched. "There are zero commercial prospects and good for him,鈥 one attendee told Puck.
