Despite the mixed reviews from critics and audiences, Francis Ford Coppola has given a perfect score to Megalopolis on Letterboxd.
Earlier this summer, Megalopolis director Francis Ford Coppola joined Letterboxd, the social cataloguing service where members can rate and review films and keep track of what they’ve watched. He hasn’t been too active on the service, but he has given Megalopolis a perfect five-star score. The divisive film has been receiving mixed reviews from critics and audiences, with the average Letterboxd score sitting at 2.9. Coppola also gave five stars to The Last Showgirl, a film directed by his granddaughter Gia Coppola.
Despite the mixed reviews, Megalopolis is clearly a project Coppola is passionate about. He spent decades developing the movie and even put up $120 million of his own money. While it’s a shame the movie wasn’t the universally acclaimed masterpiece that many were hoping it would be, folks can’t seem to stop talking about it. In my book, an interesting failure is more alluring than another two hours of forgettable mediocrity.
Our own Chris Bumbray caught Megalopolis at TIFF, and unfortunately, he wasn’t a fan. “In the last forty minutes, Megalopolis becomes a real disaster, with so much jam-packed into the movie’s third act that it becomes almost impossible to keep up with it,” Bumbray wrote. “It becomes nonsensical as it races towards its ending. Again, one can’t fault Coppola for his ambition. He financed the movie with money he earned, so he had every right to make exactly the film he wanted to make. But it’s hard to imagine this ever connecting with anyone other than hardcore Coppola devotees or maybe connoisseurs of bad cinema.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.
The official synopsis for Megalopolis reads: “Megalopolis is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.” The film is currently slated to hit theaters on September 27th. I’m looking forward to finally getting to check the film out for myself.
