Having seen it now and watched it breeze by.
I have some sense of what he's been thinking about
these last few years. Not just his mortality,
But there's always that.
A lot of longing for his youth.
But that's a long running theme.
Even when he was still young.
He's actually caught a fair share of the exuberance
He surely felt when making his 2nd film.
The last 20 years of his picture making
Sparse but glorious
Has him as genius amateur
Truly loving his work and paying for it.
Emotionally and financially.
Best scenes are the parties
Especially the central Wedding
Where the villainy is allowed to play itself out
Best performance given by his brother's grandson
Bailey Ives plays Huey
1st seen as a tuba player on the street
Later as Shia LaBeouf's right hand
Didn't recognize him as a Coppola at 1st glance.
Should have. Plays the Nic Cage role.
FFC goes back to Cotton Club too.
Not meant as insult to the Coppolas.
He does them proud.
His uncle, his great uncle, cousins, father, all.
He and Shia play well together.
Kathryn Hunter is another standout.
Again, 1st time seeing her.
But can see she's been around.
More than anyone, she sets the tone.
Brings to mind Lisa Jane Persky in Cotton Club.
Francis Coppola was taking questions
on social media X, so I posed one:
I was very happy to finally see Megalopolis
2 days ago, in IMAX as recommended,
and was surprised at how quickly
it seemed to fly by. So much of it
seemed to invoke the spirit & imagery
of your 2nd film, You're A Big Boy Now.
Were you trying to recapture your youth
in making it?
FFC didn't answer my question directly.
Which is fine, as the picture did.