As ambitious as it is pretentious, Megalopolis reminds that Francis Ford Coppola’s best filmmaking days are way behind him.

A $120 million budget passion project, Megalopolis is a huge risk for Coppola who clearly believes his (impressive) legacy will be a draw for a segment of cinema pundits craving for something original and challenging in a very safe cinema landscape.

Coppola’s legacy, though, primarily relies on adaptations of other peoples work (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders), not to mention the heavy hand of producers ensuring Coppola doesn’t forget that he is working in the movie business. Megalopolis is a reminder that when Coppola is unshackled from the perceived restrains of studio gatekeepers, his films are, well, no good. It was the case then with One From the Heart, Jack, and Twixt, and it is the case now with Megalopolis.

Adam Driver stars in Megalopolis as Cesar Catilina, an architect and powerful cultural figure in the city of New Rome. Cesar’s dream to build a utopian society in which all will prosper is opposed by Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) who views Cesar’s progressive ideals as dangerous. Things get very complicated when Cicero’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) falls in love with Cesar, who with each step towards his utopia draws enemies from every corner of influence.

There is a gumption to Coppola’s approach with Megalopolis that is hard not to admire. Not many filmmakers will go out on a limb like Coppola has done with repeated confidence, even though his constant forays into independent experimental filmmaking are tedious at best.

Megalopolis follows suit with the film a scrambled mess of surreal filmmaking that rides high on the hot-air of Coppola’s predictably elitist and delusional opinions on politics and culture, where dreamers and artists are the saviours of the world because, well, they dream and make art.

Performances from a unique ensemble case is a mixed bag. Driver and Emmanuel have excellent chemistry and often feature in the films’ best scenes. On the other spectrum is Shia LeBeouf whose poorly timed improvisations are an annoying distraction. Oscar winning veterans Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, meanwhile, fail to provide the necessary gravitas that Megalopolis sorely needed.

There are moments of brilliance in Megalopolis, to be sure, moments that make you lean forward and remember that, yes, Coppola was the man who gave us Apocalypse Now and The Godfather Part II. But alas those moments are fleeting; brushed aside by the same hand who made Twixt and The Cotton Club.

Coppola has made it clear that his current approach towards filmmaking is all about experimentation. Megalopolis proves that something has gone wrong in the lab.