Megalopolis

Well this was interesting at least. I passed one third of the time asking myself if it was a parody, one third asking WTF I'm watching, and one third catching ancient Rome references and the way Coppola fan-fictioned a different ending for the Catilina and Cicero story, making them get along: in this alternative history the future of (new) Rome is literally the baby of the populares (left-wing, in the over-simplification of modern eyes) and Cicero, a right-leaning moderate that tried to defend the republican institutions and traditions ("cement and steel" in this film metaphor). In reality, Catilina died in exile and the republic was over some decades later.

I don't know where 120 millions went in this film, half of it looks like a b-movie, the other half is Coppola throwing spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks between all his inspirations: a lot of expressionism, but also split screens and a cool moving statue. Every momentum the film gets is lost immediately by some rambling about a philosopher or by a sudden tone shift. I could only laugh at the optimistic end, where humanism wins. Shout-out to actors giving it all nonetheless, especially Driver and a fantastic Aubrey Plaza.