10/21
In this universe, Christianity doesn't exist
The city of New Rome faces the duel between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favor of a Utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, with her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved.. Francis Ford Coppola wrote the script in the early 1980s, but the film was kept on the back-burner partially due to his financial debts. Pre-production finally began in 2001 after filming 30 hours of second unit footage and holding table read with Paul Newman, Uma Thurman, Robert De Niro, James Gandolfini, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Edie Falco, and Kevin Spacey, but the project was scrapped after the September 11 attacks, because a scene from the script (page 166); "predicted" the attacks. Coppola completely abandoned the project in 2007, and didn't begin developing it again until 2019. At 9:40 pm, Catilina's character says the phrase "Holy Jesus Christ!" in amazement. Yet, within universe, the city of New Rome stems from a culture based on Roman Mythology (example: 54:47, the dedication to Vesta; 01:55:51, someone says "The will of Cronus", or at 01:51; 56:49, a statue of Saturn is displayed prominently, while there are many more depictions of Roman deities).
And, well, I
There's no reason Catiline would use the phrase "Holy Jesus Christ!" and in such context.. Caesar Catiline: *You* wanna help me?Julia Cicero: Yeah. well, I want to learn.Cesar Catilina: And you think one year of… medical school entitles you to plow through the riches of my Emersonian mind?Julia Cicero: Does it entitle me? Yes.Julia Cicero: [scoffs] Entitles me?Caesar Catiline: Yeees!Julia Cicero: Entitles me?Caesar Catiline: YEEEEEES!Julia Cicero: You have no idea about me! Cesar Catilina: No, not nothing, but I reserve my time for people who can think. About science.
And literature, and
architecture and art. Do you find me cruel, selfish and unfeeling? I am. I work without caring what happens to either of us. So go back to the cluuuub, bare it all, and stalk the kind of people that you enjoy.Julia Cicero: Fine! I will.Caesar Catilina: Come back when you have more time!. The "Ultimate IMAX Experience" version of the film features a live actor asking questions during the filmed press conference Explained (2024).
For everything that works in Megalopolis, there's something that doesn't
My PledgeWritten by Grace VanderWaalPerformed by Grace VanderWaalCourtesy of Columbia RecordsProduced and Orchestrated by Kris Kukul. It's the huge go for broke swing everyone said it was, and an immensely interesting mess. Parts are very creative and unlike anything else, and then long stretches pass that are utterly boring. It's 138 minutes long but feels like it exceeds the three-hour mark. Whether that makes it feel appropriately epic or too often dull will probably depend on the viewer. Coppola is trying to say so much in one film, and a good deal of it comes out nonsensical as a result. There were a few points during the film where I wondered if it was all some practical joke.
Visuals that look striking alongside parts that are visually garish
It might mean a lot to him, or maybe only parts do and the rest of the time, he's laughing at us. There's a certain balance here with the entertaining and the boring. It's a movie that film buffs will argue about and remember while 99% of the population will continue to live their lives in blissful ignorance of its existence.I can't quite decide whether it would be better to have been among the blissful many or the baffled 1%.