Directed by: Mike Figgis
Rated: NR
Running Time: 107 minutes
Utopia
Our Score: 3 out of 5 Stars
I haven’t yet rewatched Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” which I really want to do—just to figure out whether it’s pure nonsense or a manic artistic vision. Right now, it’s unavailable for streaming and you can’t buy it online (at least legally). The closest I could get to watching 2024’s most ambitious disaster was “Megadoc,” a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Coppola’s passion project.
“Megadoc” follows the film’s multi-year production, plagued by walkouts, firings, clashing egos, and chaos at nearly every turn. For a lot of people, this will immediately call “Apocalypse Now” to mind. But while “Hearts of Darkness” deepened the mythos of that film, “Megadoc” feels more like an obituary for a movie that bombed so hard it cost Coppola over $100 million of his own money.
It starts off promising, showing Coppola rallying the cast and crew for what’s clearly going to be a strange ride. And I say strange because his directorial style seems deliberately murky. At times, it’s like he waits for someone to make a decision just so he can reject it. The most fascinating dynamic here is between Coppola and Shia LaBeouf. They come off like an old married couple who’ve given up on divorce and settled into bitter codependence.
Amid the madness, there is a real creative passion. Coppola is hell-bent on realizing a sprawling vision that might not even be fully formed in his own head. But as months turn into years, you start to wonder if the real world is evolving faster than Coppola can keep up. Watching him wrestle with something this big, something that may no longer even make sense to him, is compelling. But I couldn’t help wondering what the documentary left out.
Sometimes it feels like the camera kicks in after the storm has passed, or just before it breaks. At times, it mirrors the messiness of “Megalopollis” itself, jumping through time, glossing over tension, and ending right at the film’s premiere. It’s long, yet still feels like it had more to say.
Still, “Megadoc” is a compelling watch. Not perfect, but for people like me who are drawn to stories about cinematic trainwrecks, it hits the spot. It plays right into the narrative that “Megalopolis” is some kind of creative Frankenstein; confused, misunderstood, and borderline delusional. If you haven’t seen the film, “Megadoc” might seem like an exercise in self-inflicted wounds. If you have, it’s a chaotic but necessary companion piece.