“Megalopolis” is either a grandiose or monstrous film by Francis Ford Coppola (or maybe all at once)

Spectators in Cannes and nervously applauded, and shouted: "Buuuu!"

At the Cannes Film Festival, the premiere of Megalopolis was held - the film of Francis Ford Coppola, which he has been working on in the last 40 years. According to the plot, the brilliant architect Caesar Katilina (Adam Driver) is trying to turn New York into a utopian city, but the mayor of Cicero (Dzhancarlo Esposito) interferes with him, who dreams of destroying his opponent. The film turned out to be so strange that film critic Anton Dolin hardly found words to describe it.

Bad films are found much more often good, but the greatest rarity is films that are at an impasse even an experienced reviewer. The monstrous "Megalopolis" of Francis Ford Coppola or amazing? Is it uniquely original or unbearably pretentious? Maybe so bad that it is already good? Or is it still bad to the radical degree where the transition to other quality is impossible?

One thing is clear: no one will be able to forget the experience of this premiere. An incredulous laughter in the hall: "Is it seriously or is mocking?" Evil friendly “Buuuu!” Mixed with fierce applause. The performance in the middle of the session, when a man with a microphone counter suddenly went on stage and began to ask questions to the character of Adam Driver, and he answered from the screen. Moreover, in the meaningful sense, this episode of the passing, no one would have noticed its disappearance. This is the whole of Coppola: to arrange something inexplicably wise in the place that an ordinary person would consider empty.

Let's try to reduce the degree of emotions, the seething of which in itself speaks in favor of the film, and not vice versa. First of all, “megalopolis” cannot be perceived as an attempt to tell a clear and plausible story. Coppola, which vainly carried his name to the titer with the name (once he also entered him into the header of the “Dracula” by Bram Stoker), gave the film and subtitle-“A Fable”. Either a fable, or a parable.

At the first exit to the public, the hero of Adam Driver reads a monologue of Hamlet. Neither he nor Koppol intend to humble themselves under the blows of fate, both choose “to be”: they can’t occupy pride. But they are not in Shakespeares. Much more playwright of the picture is similar to the mystery in a medieval or baroque spirit, where each character is not so much a living person as an allegory or personification. For example, adored and more than once praised by Coppilay New York-this time withdrawn in Atlanta, Georgia, here embodies the Roman Empire and was baptized by the new Rome. The formal basis for intrigue was Catilina's conspiracy .

The driver, cementing the title of the most important American artist of his generation (Cohen, Jarmush, Scorsese, Spike Li, Michael Mann, Gilliam, Star Wars - who is more?), Caesar Katilina is here. He is not so much a traitor and a powerful man as a visionary and a romantic, the next Frank Lloyd Wright and Robert Moses , but living according to the covenants of Rousseau and Emerson . By profession - an inventor, architect and, forgive the Lord, an urbanist who received the Nobel Prize for the invention of the innovative building material Megalon. With his help, he plans to build a new Rome again, having previously destroyed the previous version.

And the mayor of the city (Dzhancarlo Esposito from the series “All Great”) is named Cicero and personifies a reasonable skepticism and pragmatic conservatism. Instead of a megalon, he chooses concrete and steel. Cicero cares for citizens and thinks first of all about the provision of various services to them, the ambitions of the cowline scare him and turn him away. One trouble: the home daughter of the mayor Julia (dazzling Natalie Emmanuel, best known for the role of Missanda in the “Game of Thrones” and a series of racing militants “Fast and the Fast and the Furious”) fell in love with Caesar and is ready to conquer him at all costs. Who does Julia embodied? “I want to become a statue of freedom,” she admits shamelessly. At the same time, Caesar mourns the death of his wife Sanny Hope (he was accused of her murder, but then justified). Sunny, apparently, the allegory of the irrevocably leaving the past, with whom he wants, but can not tear Caesar Katilina.

Something similar can be said about the Coppola itself, which also breaks between the passion for the stylish ar-deco retro (the headquarters of the hero is located at the top of the Chrysler-Building) and futuristic visionary. In the image of Caesar, the 85-year-old director offers us not a very disguised self-portrait. After all, the film, which costs 120 million and invented 40 years ago, for which the author sold his vineyards, was the same utopian project as the ideal megalopolis Catilin. Cicero sarcastically warns: there is no utopia that would not turn into anti -utopia. Perhaps, but neither Coppola nor Caesar are afraid to embody their dreams, no matter what it costs.

The film has a charming-shred computer animation, a gigantic mass-the parade scene in New Rome unexpectedly refers to the second “godfather”, outglass decorations and the surreal costumes of Milena Kanunero (it has been working with Coppola since the “Cotton Club”), reminiscent of the ancient Rome or New York, but about clips of the 1930s Gangste-rapeers. And there is also a lot of nervous music by the favorite of Coppola-the Argentinean-Jewish composer Osvaldo Golikhov (without the most pompous tactes, Beethoven’s seventh symphony was not there).

In addition to the mentioned triangle of characters, others take part in the events of the film. Old Patrician-Banker Hamilton Crassus III (John Voit, peer of Koppola), whose character embodies large capital; TV presenter and influenerca VAU Platinum (Obri Plaza), personifying corrupt mass media; The cunning Vestalka and pop singer Vesta Svitwater (Grace Wonderwall) and a vile envious cousin of Catilina named Claidi (Shaya Labaf, most of the film walks densely painted, in a women's dress)-Avatar Trump and other populists. He equally hates Cicero, Catilin and Crassus, each of which envies. Although Clody is so caricature that it is not possible to consider him a villain to consider him.

Real enemies of the main characters are their own exorbitant ambitions. Other conflicts in the films of Coppola, the creator Michael Corleone and Colonel Kurtz, never happened.

In the credits and on the screen, you will also meet Dustin Hoffman, whose invitation was apparently insurmountable, but Coppol did not come up with an explanatory role for him; According to the initial plan, the recently deceased James Kaan was to be removed instead of him. Director Talia Shair and his nephew Jason Schwartzman got into Megalopolis by meeting what they were doing on the screen is also unclear. But we can confidently say that Lawrence Fishburn was taken as his expressive deep voice, with which he from time to time commented on what is happening, playing the role of “from the author” - and at the same time serving as a personal assistant of Caesar Catilina.

Coppola claims that he was inspired by the “game of the beads” of Hess, but even a trace of the internal discipline of Master Knecht is not in it. On the contrary, it all consists of boyish rebellion and teenage protest, so strange and beautiful for the Patriarch of Cinema. The delightful disgrace created by him quickly gets tired of pretending to be a cinema, first transferring the action to the Colosseum and making it frankly circus, and to the finale, the re -pronounced genre of Saturnal . The more space for the operator-experimenter Mikhai Malaimare, the youngest, with whom Coppola so loved to cooperate in films of the last quarter century.

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The characters switch to Latin, the screen moves in the eyes, Julia sparit by heart of Marcus Aurelius, and Clody appears in front of the people with a stump, cut down in the form of a swastika. The slogan “All power to the people” sounds, and this is already completely ugly trolling. To the audience or voters in the film, driven out of mesh fences, neither Coppola nor Catilin, obviously, does not care. For too long, the founding father of the new Hollywood tried to appeal to the audience, which fell out of loving him after the great masterpieces of the 1970s. Now he sincerely reciprocates her.

It is hardly possible to judge the "megalopolis", the very name of which is revealing, in terms of success or failure. Whatever the box office, the picture - the most high -budget author’s cinema in history - has no chance of paying off. Her critics will probably be given: I wonder if she will beat the anti -rating of Jack, the most hated film of Coppola. It is unlikely that she will receive a prize in Cannes. But the director, who is already the first in history twice, the winner of the Golden Palm Branch, is clearly not trying to please anyone. And certainly does not consider Megalopolis as a business project. He wanted one thing: to fulfill a dream, to which he unconditionally and uncontrollably strove for half his life. And here it is, two hours long, eighteen minutes. What else can you wish for?

Unless the acquisitions of the magical ability of Caesar Catilina are to order time to stop and really freeze it. Of all his crazy ideas, Coppol is long at this - to get stuck in time, to overcome aging and death. The struggle against these processes is the whole three -part saga “godfather”, but such “Dracula”, “Jack” and “Youth without youth” are devoted to her. “Megalopolis” looks like such an incredible effort to remain in history, which seemed to freeze and stops the Coppola career itself at the peak of teenage maximalism that he has not yet been waste. It is hard to imagine that after that the director will remove something else.

According to the author, only genuine art can become an elixir of eternal youth: architecture, literature or music. And even more so the movie, once called Tarkovsky "captured time." Koppol did not even think to transfer to the screen the time that we live, think and feel. He has his own - from the building material he invented, quite suitable for building screen utopia. Romanticism defeats pragmatism. Let Rome or Cannes - the name of which was born in the same Roman Empire - will turn to the ruins, Coppola will only be glad to create his own, best imaginary world instead.

Anton Dolin