海角大神

Francis Ford Coppola鈥檚 long-awaited 鈥淢egalopolis,鈥� set in the futuristic city of New Rome, is the movie he鈥檚 been wanting to make for 40 years. Now that he鈥檚 finally written and directed it, what in tarnation has he wrought?聽

The narrative, such as it is, loosely derives from the Catiline conspiracy of 63 B.C., when the aristocrat Lucius Sergius Catilina failed in his attempt to overthrow the Roman consul Marcus Tullius Cicero.

In Coppola鈥檚 version, Catilina has become Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a visionary Nobel Prize-winning scientist-architect obsessed with rebuilding the urban blighted New Rome as a sustainable utopia. His primary building block is 鈥渕egadon,鈥� a substance he created that allows him to control space and time. His nemesis is Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), New Rome鈥檚 mayor, a status quo kind of guy. Ostensibly it鈥檚 a tradition versus progress fable.

In actuality, it鈥檚 a movie furiously, perhaps intentionally, at odds with itself. Coppola鈥檚 Catilina may represent a resplendent avatar of a utopian future 鈥� a cross between Iron Man and Howard Roark, the uncompromising architect from Ayn Rand鈥檚 鈥淭he Fountainhead.鈥� But he鈥檚 also a self-obsessed megalomaniac who has possibly poisoned his wife. His greatest goal, aside from saving mankind, is to stop time 鈥� i.e., cheat death.

Despite the film鈥檚 bias against Cicero, his embattled resistance to Catilina doesn鈥檛 appear altogether baseless or unreasonable. After all, the New Rome he presides over 鈥� which at times resembles one big toga party 鈥� doesn鈥檛 seem a whole lot more dystopian than the supposedly glorious city Catilina envisions.

One of the film鈥檚 central deficiencies is that Coppola never convincingly shows us those glories. It鈥檚 a visionary movie without a vision. Or perhaps there are simply too many visions, all elbowing for center stage in Coppola鈥檚 rowdy bacchanal.

At times the film resembles a cross between 鈥淏lade Runner鈥� and 鈥淐aligula.鈥� Maybe it will become this era鈥檚 head-trip movie the way 鈥�2001鈥� and 鈥淔antasia鈥� functioned for earlier generations.

But it鈥檚 difficult to bliss out on a movie so clamorous. Coppola, a past master at directing actors, allows his performers 鈥� who include Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Aubrey Plaza, and Nathalie Emmanuel 鈥� to shamelessly ham it up. Laurence Fishburne, playing the film鈥檚 ostensible fount of wisdom, intones weighty lines like 鈥淪uch are the difficulties of the human heart.鈥� Catilina recites Hamlet鈥檚 鈥淭o be, or not to be鈥� soliloquy. We鈥檙e treated to clunkily staged orgies, prancing vestal virgins, glancing references to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini 鈥� all in the service, I suppose, of the thesis that empires fall to fascism through moral decay.聽

Is Coppola drawing some sort of analogy between the world we live in and New Rome? And is the genius-visionary Cesar Catilina, with all his torments and aberrations, somehow meant to be a stand-in for Coppola himself? Coppola self-financed this $125 million dollar movie because he wanted to exert complete artistic control. Alas, what ran through my mind while watching is: Be careful what you wish for.

And yet, to my surprise, I did take away something that has stayed with me and even moved me. Years ago, at the time of 鈥淥ne From the Heart,鈥� I wrote of Coppola: 鈥淗e鈥檚 cast himself as an innovator 鈥� a visionary 鈥� and yet his great work has been solidly grounded in the old-fashioned narrative tradition.鈥� In 鈥淢egalopolis鈥� the director of two of the finest films ever made 鈥� the first two 鈥淕odfather鈥� movies 鈥� is still miscasting himself as an innovator.聽

But innovation isn鈥檛 everything. Setting aside my reservations, I choose to read the film as Coppola鈥檚 encoded meditation on his own mortality. Like his flawed hero Catilina, he wants to stop time. At 85 years old, having not directed a film in over a decade, he has at last made his passion project. I wish I liked 鈥淢egalopolis鈥� much more than I did, but, in the end, that may not really matter. A great artist is entitled to his grand follies.聽

Peter Rainer is the Monitor鈥檚 film critic. 鈥淢egalopolis鈥� is rated R聽for sexual content, nudity, drug use, language and some violence.聽