Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” has finally world-premiered at Cannes and the reactions have been… unsurprisingly all over the place. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote that the Roman epic starring Adam Driver “inspires new hope for the future of movies,” while elsewhere critics are calling the film everything from batshit crazy to catastrophic. There were boos in the audience at the Thursday Palais premiere, which is to be expected from the often indecorous Cannes audience. And “Megalopolis,” a movie Coppola financed himself and held creative control over every step of the way, is still without a distributor.
On the latest episode of IndieWire’s “Screen Talk,” co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio discuss Coppola’s self-funded, VFX-driven opus and whether it works or not. Now four days in the festival, there’s plenty else to discuss, including the latest Palme d’Or contenders as well as films outside the main competition you should seek out. That includes Rungano Nyoni’s “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” the Un Certain Regard title from the “I Am Not a Witch” director, which A24 already has distribution on. The Zambian drama finds a woman forced to host the funeral of the uncle who molested her after finding his corpse roadside.
Plus, Anne talks about the lively Meryl Streep honorary Palme d’Or tribute that took place on Wednesday, in which the three-time Oscar-winning actress got candid about her career past and present. Meanwhile, Ryan attended the opening day jury press conference, where president Greta Gerwig and her cohorts were pummeled with political questions regarding the multiple scandals looming over the Croisette. That includes a potential labor strike over slashed benefits for workers and a possible #MeToo scandal that could affect the festival.
Elsewhere, if you’re looking for Cannes counter-programming, the Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black” is now playing theaters in the U.S. as of May 17. Sam Taylor-Johnson’s attempt to capture the life and final days of the late singer is wildly miscalculated, according to the “Screen Talk” co-hosts, especially when it comes to having Winehouse actress Marisa Abela actually sing the Grammy winner’s songs.
Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.
Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
