{"id":978949,"date":"2026-01-05T21:26:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=455654"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:26:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:26:22","slug":"megalopolis-is-a-fantasy-disasterpiece-but-this-book-explains-why-it-exists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/megalopolis-is-a-fantasy-disasterpiece-but-this-book-explains-why-it-exists\/","title":{"rendered":"Megalopolis is a fantasy disasterpiece, but this book explains why it exists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I overheard the same question before and after seeing Megalopolis<\/em>: What the hell is Megalopoli<\/em>s about?\u00a0<\/p>\n

In press for the film, director Francis Ford Coppola, of Apocalypse Now <\/em>and The Godfather<\/em> fame, has spoken at length about Megalopolis<\/em> being a wake-up call for audiences to take up arms for the future of cinema and society as a whole \u2014 a bold act of optimism that envisions a road to utopia. But the film, out in theaters this week, is, in actuality, about history, and specifically about Coppola\u2019s personal past.<\/p>\n

The 150-minute fever dream of philosophy, politics, and Shia LaBeouf\u2019s mullet isn\u2019t subtle. Characters with names like Cesar Cataline and Wow Platinum deliver countless exhaustive monologues about the power of art, the calcification of bureaucracy, and the need for great, all-inclusive debates about the future. At one point, the antagonist delivers a speech from a tree stump that\u2019s been sculpted into a swastika.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing \u201csub\u201d about the subtext here. It\u2019s as blunt as a chain letter forwarded from your grandfather. And yet, all of these screeds are far more interesting and digestible than the sizable amount of time Coppola\u2019s heroes spend defending Coppola\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

Adam Driver\u2019s Cesar, the city designer of Megalopolis, mourns his wife, whose life was figuratively and literally put into his work \u2014 the film suggests her DNA powers the film\u2019s fictional construction material, Megala. Coppola notoriously blended his marriage and art<\/a> in ways that led to bitter fights and affairs. Cesar takes extreme measures to build his dream city of the art, destroying buildings and arguing against public services. Back in the \u201970s, Coppola hoped to obliterate the studio model through independent financing, and for his early films, fled Hollywood to avoid union labor.<\/p>\n

The list of similarities goes on and on and on, to the point that Megalopolis<\/em> feels less like a movie than a case for Coppola\u2019s legacy \u2014 which makes sense, considering the filmmaker leveraged his wine empire, his fortune, and debt<\/a> to tell his <\/em>story. What better reason to spend your fortune before you die than to ensure you’re well remembered when you\u2019re gone?<\/p>\n

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