Francis Ford Coppola Megalopolis, A film the 85-year-old director began making decades ago is fixated on the future. The film’s characters, all members of a fabled city-state elite in the moments before the fall of the American empire, constantly philosophize about who will have the power, what civilization will look like For example, questions of inheritance, succession, growth and decay. However, the film’s most effective expression of futurism lies not so much in the dialogue but rather in Coppola’s cinematic work and his technical experimentalism. Throughout the film’s 138 minutes, it plays with triptych split-screens and surreal, trippy CGI, mixing, in a postmodern time warp, these overtly digital techniques with more obvious, old-fashioned effects like iris shots used to mark focus or ending scenes.

The one effect that seems to have captured the imagination of movie nerds more than any other is a “live” fourth-wall breaking, in which Adam Driver’s character, Cesar Catilina, answers a question from a real actor in the theater Megalopolis is screening. When word got out about this reality-shattering moment MegalopolisAt the film’s world premiere in Cannes, it was unclear whether this element would carry over to public screenings beyond the festival. Just as the film opened nationwide, Lionsgate announced a list of select screenings and theaters across the country hosting the live moment will be integrated on the opening weekend. In addition to these special screenings, regular screenings will take place exclusively in two pre-recorded dimensions.

I attended one such special screening of Megalopolis at Imax on Monday, September 23, which opened with a conversation between NYFF’s Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Spike Lee and Dennis Lim and was simultaneously broadcast in Imax theaters across the continent. Coppola expressed mixed reactions to his work, suggesting that it may be justified to future-oriented, with too much continues for viewers to appreciate after a screening. “There are films that, especially if they contain more, you don’t understand everything straight away, but they last simply 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 reaction you can get for a film,” he said. (“My films are a little prescient,” he later added.)

Whether out of love or hate, my audience was completely invested in the live element. A little over half of the film (I think …time really runs differently at a screening at 9 p.m Megalopolis), after an environmental disaster that causes damage to the mythical city of New Rome, the film cuts to black. After a break, the lights came on in the 512-seat auditorium and a man stood near the front of the screen, facing away from the audience and toward the projection, speaking into a microphone stand. The screen displayed Cesar Catilina sitting at a desk, staring in the direction of this live performer or “reporter.” At our screening, the reporter had a lot going for him: He wore a fedora and pretended to be taking notes in a reporter’s notebook. Maybe each of these artists are allowed to take creative liberties because I haven’t seen similar prop work in videos on social media from other cities.

Reports from Cannes claimed that the “reporter” asked the character of the driver a question, but subsequent screenings for the press and public (including me) revealed that the reporter’s question was actually an audio recording already included in the film was integrated. However, the microphone really gives the illusion that the question is live. Many of my colleagues who saw the film thought that the recorded voice sounded like it belonged to Jason Schwartzman. In the film he plays a minor role as “Jason Zanderz”, a tunic-clad bringer of mild comic relief in the entourage of Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Vulture reached out MegalopolisThe press team looked into the matter and, much to our surprise, they confirmed that the voice did not belong to Schwartzman, adding an extra layer of mystery to the moment.

Regarding the content of the scene itself, the “Reporter” asks (via recording): “You said that there is nothing to be afraid of when we jump into the future.” But what if when we jump into the future we do something what we have to be afraid of?” Catiline pauses for a moment and responds with a vague Randian pontificate. At my screening, the lights in the theater went out, the live actor picked up his stand and walked into the wings, and the screen went black before the next scene began and the film continued. It was an electrifying moment, a novelty and ultimately just under a minute long, all in all. The scene itself is so inconsequential that I could imagine cutting it out entirely in future cuts of the film or, considering the reporter’s voice isn’t live, playing it without the live performance element. Would it feel a little weird? Yes. But that also applies to so many things Megalopolis. It’s a feature rather than a bug, and I applaud the boldness. They don’t build statues of critics, just statues of Jon Voight in a toga on the eve of his wedding to Wow Platinum.

Will you get a chance to see the Four Wall Break scene in its intended live participation format? Yes, if you act quickly. At select Imax and PLF theaters in select cities, viewers can purchase tickets for the Ultimate Experience version during the film’s opening weekend megalopolis, This includes what the film’s official materials refer to as “live participants.” The Ultimate Experience screening slate includes 34 theaters in 23 cities on September 27th and 28th.

Photo: 42west

If the strangest minute in the cinema in 2024 excites you, you should secure a ticket to the Ultimate Experience now. If you can’t make it to one of these films, you can always play villain at your local screening Megalopolis and mime the live performance yourself. Be the futuristic utopia you want to see in the world.