Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” Is Overambitious, Undercooked and Profoundly MovingThis is the second installment of the 2024 edition of the French Dispatches, our on-the-ground coverage of the Cannes Film Festival. Megalopolis, which had its world premiere yesterday at Cannes, begins with a mad scientist played by Adam Driver perched on the roof of the Chrysler Building. Peering out over the streets below, he commands: “Time: stop!” And the greenscreen clouds above stop moving through the sky, the greenscreen cars below stop moving through the streets. Francis Ford Coppola’s film takes up anew the promises of technology, the possibilities of the city, the potential of the cinematic form. Everything that everyone has already said about Megalopolis in the 24 hours since its premiere, positive and negative, is true: it’s overambitious, undercooked, baffling, dubious, sentimental, messy, innovative, startlingly beautiful, profoundly moving. |