Francis Ford Coppola Megapolis, a film that the 85-year-old director started making decades ago is fixated on the future. The characters in the film, all members of a legendary city-state elite in the moments leading up to the fall of the American empire, wax constantly philosophical about it: about who will have power, what civilization will look like. such as issues of inheritance, succession, growth and decline. But the most effective expression of the film’s futurism lies not so much in the dialogue but in Coppola’s filmmaking and technical experimentalism. Throughout the film’s 138 minutes he plays with triptych split screens and surreal, trippy CGI, and in a postmodernist time warp he combines these overtly digital techniques with more blatant, old-fashioned effects like iris shots, which are used to add focus or ending scenes to indicate.

The one effect that seems to have captured the imagination of film nerds more than any other is a “live” fourth wall breaking, in which Adam Driver’s character, Cesar Catilina, responds to a question from a real artist in the cinema where Megapolis is screening. When news broke about this reality-breaking moment out Megapolis‘s world premiere in Cannes, it was unclear whether or not this element would carry over to public screenings outside the festival. Just as the film began rolling out nationwide, Lionsgate announced a list of select screenings and theaters across the country where the live event would take place. shall will be recorded during the opening weekend. In addition to these special screenings, regular screenings will take place entirely in two pre-recorded dimensions.

I attended one such special screening of Megapolis in Imax on Monday, September 23, which began with a conversation between NYFF’s Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Spike Lee and Dennis Lim and was simulcast in Imax theaters across the continent. Coppola had mixed reactions to his opus, suggesting that it might be righteous at progressive, with too many in progress so viewers can appreciate it after one viewing. “There are films that, especially if there’s more to them, you don’t fully understand the first time, that have a longevity just because you get more out of them every time you see them. I hope so. Because people love it, and people hate it. It’s the best response you can get for a movie,” he said. (“My films are a bit prescient,” he later added.)

Whether it was love or hate, my audience was completely locked into the live element. A little more than halfway through the film (I think …time really moves differently at a 9 p.m. screening Megapolis), after an environmental disaster damages the mythical city of New Rome, the film fades to black. After a while, the house lights came on in the 512-seat venue, and at the front of the screen stood a man facing away from the audience, looking at the projection and speaking into a microphone stand. The screen faded to Cesar Catilina, who was sitting at a desk, staring in the direction of this live performer or “reporter.” At our screening, the reporter was making a bit of a fuss: he was wearing a fedora and pretending to take notes in a reporter’s notebook. Perhaps each of these artists can take creative liberties, as I haven’t seen similar prop work in social media videos from other cities.

Accounts from Cannes claimed that the ‘reporter’ asks Driver’s character a question, but subsequent screenings for press and public (including mine) have revealed that the reporter’s question is in fact an audio recording already in the film ingrained. However, the microphone really sells the illusion that the question is live. Many of my colleagues who saw the film thought the recorded voice sounded like it belonged to Jason Schwartzman. In the film, he plays a minor role as “Jason Zanderz,” a bejeweled deliverer of mild comic relief in Mayor Cicero’s (Giancarlo Esposito) entourage. Vulture held out his hand Megapolis‘s press team to get to the bottom of this, and much to our surprise, they confirmed that the voice is not Schwartzman’s, adding an extra layer of mystery to the moment.

As for the content of the scene itself, the “reporter” asks (via recording): “You said that if we jump into the future, there is nothing to be afraid of. But what if, when we jump into the future, there is something to fear?” Catiline pauses for a moment and responds with a vague, Randian pontification. In my screening, the lights in the room went down, the live performer took his stand and walked backstage, and the screen faded to black before the next scene started and the film continued. It was an exciting moment, a novelty, and ultimately just under a minute long, all in. The scene itself is so insignificant that I can imagine it being removed entirely in future parts of the film, or – since the reporter’s voice is not live – played without the live performance element. Would it feel a little strange? Yes. But that also applies to so much Megalopolis. It’s more of a feature than a bug, and I applaud the boldness. They don’t build footage of critics, just footage of Jon Voight in a toga on the eve of his wedding to Wow Platinum.

Will you get a chance to see the fourth wall breaking scene in its intended live participation format? Yes, if you act quickly. At select Imax and PLF theaters in select cities during the film’s opening weekend, audiences can purchase tickets for the Ultimate Experience version of Megalopolis, including what is referred to in the film’s official material as the ‘Live Participant’. The list of Ultimate Experience screenings includes 34 theaters in 23 cities on September 27 and 28.

Photo: 42west

If 2024’s strangest minute of cinema excites you, you need to buy a ticket now to see the Ultimate Experience. If you can’t make it, you can always go rogue at your local screening of Megapolis and mimic the live performance itself. Are the futuristic utopia you want to see in the world.