Today, we are stopping time to discuss Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola's controversial passion project, which took him 40 years to make. The film was entirely self-financed for $120mn and has an all-star cast, including Adam Driver, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, but it has fiercely divided viewers. Is this Coppola’s worst film, or are critics being too harsh? What is it actually about? And are we glad it was made? Lilah is joined by the FT's film critic Danny Leigh and independent film critic Nicolas Rapold to talk about the film's highs and lows.

-------

Want to stay in touch? Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap, and email at lilahrap@ft.com. We’re grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify!

-------

Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):

– Danny’s review of Megalopolis is here: https://on.ft.com/3YcfpSo

– Nicolas Rapold is on X @NicolasRapold. Follow him and his podcast The Last Thing I Saw, here: https://rapold.substack.com/

– Raph Abraham’s one-star review of Megalopolis, from the Cannes Film Festival, is here: https://on.ft.com/3ZUAulz

– Danny wants to see more three-star reviews. Here are his three-star reviews of The Substance and Will & Harper

– Nic is reading Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa

-------

Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: https://www.ft.com/lifeandart

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is a mess worth seeing

Life and Art from FT Weekend