Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ Premieres At Cannes and Receives Divisive Reviews and Reactions

Sameer Rana May 21, 2024

Francis Ford Coppola unveiled his 40+ year long passion project, Megalopolis, to the world at the Cannes Film Festival last Thursday.

Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ Premieres At Cannes and Receives Divisive Reviews and Reactions — *Megalopolis* / Image Courtesy of American Zoetrope

The Apocalypse Now and The Godfather trilogy director has been thinking about Megalopolis since the late 70s and after numerous delays, he famously sold one of his own wineries to finance the film independently for a staggering $120 million. The logline states:

Megalopolis is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.

The film had a private friends and family screening earlier in March that included major stars and studio executives such as Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman, Warner Bros. Pictures CEO Pamela Abdy and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos. Following that screening the film didn’t secure American distribution, however in late April it was reported the film secured French distribution with Le Pacte. Additionally, the film will get a global IMAX treatment which the company’s CEO Richard Gelfond announced last Thursday.

Following its premiere, it looks like securing distribution is going to prove even harder as the film has a 52% critics rating from 42 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as of publishing. The film received a 10 minute standing ovation in the Grand Lumiere Theatre in which Coppola embraced with his cast and family. Additionally, Coppola gave a speech, dedicating the film to hope: “The most important thing we have, the most beautiful word I think in any language, is — speranza — hope! And that’s what I dedicate this movie to. Hope, and the children. Make the world for the children.”

Find reactions to Megalopolis:

I thrilled to MEGALOPOLIS in all its overstuffed, crazy ambition. Only an uncharitable viewer would call it a catastrophe. It's definitely not boring. https://t.co/B6Wjvztg9g
— Joshua Rothkopf (@joshrothkopf) May 16, 2024

Francis Ford Coppola’s MEGALOPOLIS is a chaotic, psychedelic fever dream that makes the stories from set undoubtable. I love seeing directors run with an idea but the result in this instance is a film so beyond comprehension that it cannot even begin to be unpacked. #Cannes2034 pic.twitter.com/OaLdJUjwCs
— Billie Melissa (@billiemelissa_) May 16, 2024

You can tell Francis Ford Coppola thinks a lot about the Roman Empire because its influence is all over the mega failure that is MEGALOPOLIS. Themes of time, history, legacy, civilization, technology, politics, the media & economics are all touched upon in this golden sun-baked,… pic.twitter.com/QhpMkrn6vb
— Matt Neglia @Cannes (@NextBestPicture) May 16, 2024

Megalopolis: the silliness is a feature, not a bug! a garish, epic, & utterly singular $120 million self-portrait that's also a fable about the fall of ancient Rome & a plea to save our civilization (and its cinema) from itself. big fan.

my #cannes review https://t.co/fA6Wy3kiJN pic.twitter.com/VWEQCmNjh4
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) May 16, 2024

MEGALOPOLIS: first hour was a disaster, an endearing disaster but still poor. Then the second hour hit; I totally bought in. Much doesn’t work in Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project, but its visual language is sharp. And there’s one scene involving a mix that hits. #Cannes2024 pic.twitter.com/Fsidxa9YHJ
— Robert Daniels (@812filmreviews) May 16, 2024

If you liked this article, please be sure to check out some of our other articles and reviews here at Feature First. Thanks for reading!

Sameer Rana

Based in Sydney, Australia. Sameer created Feature First with friends out of a passion for films in June 2023. He currently manages the news reporting, maintains the website frontend and creates graphics for Facebook and Instagram. You can find Sameer re-watching his favourite film trailers.

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