Written by Robert Scocchi | Published
Cinematic passion projects often have in common a number of expected lines in the form of up-and-coming actors with no star power, a budget less than a violin string ready to capture the moment they’re under great pressure, and an unfortunate lack of studio support that most established filmmakers have access to. To him after proving themselves over time. Francis Ford Coppola’s latest outing, $136 million Major citieschanged the game by demonstrating how a roster full of A-list actors and the seemingly unlimited financial resources generated by Coppola’s personal fortune couldn’t save a film that was clearly doomed from the start.
After sitting down and watching the 138-minute dystopian sci-fi epic for myself, a new line has been added to my personal anchor for passion projects: Ego Untethered.
That means it’s not a huge stretch to compare Major cities Themes and execution of ego-driven projects led by Tommy Wiseau or Neil Breen, two self-proclaimed authors who personally fund their own projects and have little resistance to their own fixed and restless creative visions.
Money talks
For self-financing Major citiesFrancis Ford Coppola sold his Sonoma County wineries to Delicato Family Wines for a terrifying stock deal worth up to $650 million, setting aside $200 million of the deal to fully pursue the artistic vision he’d been trying to realize for 40 years. With the wealth he had amassed, Coppola was finally ready to produce his passion project without any studio interference.
Star power only works if the scenario makes sense
With a high-level budget comes high-level talent, and there is no shortage of special celebrities Major cities. While it’s easy to blame B movies (or… Major citieswhich I call a high-budget B movie) because there are inexperienced actors tasked with telling a story, it became clear to me after watching Major cities That even Adam Driver couldn’t save himself from reciting Shakespeare as he walked around like a puppet controlled by a puppeteer with an optical sneeze reflex who glanced directly into the studio lights before Coppola shouted “Action.”
Cast list and plot direct to DVD
The film takes place in New Rome, an alternate version of New York City, where the chauffeur plays Cesare Catiline, a brilliant but troubled Nobel Prize-winning architect and head of New Rome’s design authority who has an idealized blueprint for a utopia known as Megalopolis. He also has the ability to stop and start time on a whim, allowing him to contemplate how to carry out his grand plans under the radar. Cesare’s intellectual and metaphysical talents are hampered by his severe alcoholism, which began to escalate years earlier when his wife mysteriously disappeared and he was unsuccessfully tried for her murder.
Cesare’s idealistic opportunism is accompanied and antagonized by Rome’s conservative mayor, Franklin Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), his opportunistic cousin Claudio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf), his extremely wealthy uncle Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), and his now ex-lover. , a TV personality named Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza).
When Cesare suddenly and inexplicably loses his talent for time manipulation, he forms a romantic bond with Julia Cicero, Franklin’s daughter, after realizing that her inspiring presence restores his artistic and time manipulation abilities, much to her father’s dismay.
Bones without meat
General plan for Major cities It makes for a compelling futuristic melodrama, but it all starts to unravel when every sliding puzzle piece fails to connect. While there is no shortage of extravagant stylistic choices on Coppola’s part to make post-modern America resemble the collapse of the Roman Empire, which was at the height of excess and chaos before reaching the point of collapse and collapse completely, style alone cannot tell a story no matter what. How beautiful it is to look at.
instead of, Major cities He turns these cinematic bones into a slurry that the viewer can try to digest as he assaults him with the vibrant, allegedly beguiling colors of the Vestal Virgin, sprawling cityscapes, a proletarian population in a perpetual state of civil and economic unrest, and Jon Voight pretending that a crossbow is buried under sheets His capture is actually an erection in order to carry out a revenge plot against his nephew, Claudio, who is conspiring with Platinum. To seize his bank.
Movie scene
Major cities The god-like, time-manipulating, idealistic but psychologically disjointed protagonist reflects the same character archetypes you see in Neil Breen films like Double down, Here I am… now, scrolland Fateful resultsbut not limited to. I assure you, the irony is not lost on me that Neil Brain was able to personally finance his own projects through fundraising and his personal fortune amassed through a successful career in architecture.
In my opinion, Coppola’s brave creation of Major cities He deserves a great deal of respect because he had a vision, stuck to his guns, and I did the thing The way he wanted to do it. The jury may be out on whether the thing in question is worth your time, but if you have a penchant for B, C, D, and Z films, you owe it to yourself to see how even the most distinguished filmmakers can hit and miss without anyone challenging their vision along the way.
As of this writing, you can watch Major cities upon request during Amazon Prime Video, Google Playand Fandango at home.