There’s a lot going on in Francis Ford Coppola’s latest film, ‘Megalopolis,’ from time control to drug-induced hallucinations and political scheming. No one can blame you if you’re a little lost, and we’re here to help you put it right.

Now in theaters, the fable is a modern Roman epic, literally bringing stories of the Roman Empire to New York. Throughout the film, we follow the efforts of Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) as he attempts to turn the city of New Rome into a utopian megalopolis for its residents.

He plans to do this with the help of Megalon, a new element he discovered – which also allows him to start and stop time – and for which he won a Nobel Prize. He believes in radical change and improvement. But Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) does not share that love for change; he clings to tradition and status quo, and certainly to class systems.

When the mayor’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) begins working with and falling in love with Cesar, his disgust for the architect only increases, causing him to be publicly thrown out of the public eye.

Eventually, the couple becomes pregnant and the mayor offers Cesar a bribe: leave Julia and their unborn child behind, and Cicero will not only publicly support Cesar’s Megalopolis plans, but he will also confess to wrongfully prosecuting Cesar for Cesar’s death woman.

But in the end we see Cesar and Julia get married privately and welcome a daughter into the world. That baby is pretty important to the end of the movie. More about that soon.

While Cicero opposes Cesar, Cesar’s cousin Clodio (Shia LaBeouf) also works against him, hoping to take over New Rome itself. Clodio teams up with Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), who married Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight). Crassus runs the largest bank in the city.

Still confused?

The point is that Wow always loved Cesar, but when he could no longer love her the way she wanted, she married Crassus for his money. Together, she and Clodio devise a plan to drive Crassus out of his company and freeze Cesar’s assets.

Understanding their plan, Crassus pretends to be weak after a stroke and manages to literally attack them. Crassus kills his wife with a small bow and arrow.

He manages to shoot a few arrows into Clodio as well – right on his behind – but Clodio escapes. Unfortunately for Clodio, he only returns to a group of his supporters, who turn on him for not keeping his promises of power and control, and beat him to death themselves.

Crassus decides that he wants to be remembered as a good man, whether he was one or not, and transfers his assets to Cesar, allowing the Megalopolis to be built. Mayor Cicero reluctantly accepts this development and embraces some change, encouraged by his wife.

In the final minutes of the film, we see Cicero, his wife, Julia and Cesar all celebrating the New Year in the heart of Megalopolis, with the inhabitants worshiping.

Cesar encourages Julia to freeze time the moment the ball drops, which she does, leaving the couple, as well as Cicero and his wife, in the middle of the kiss. Everyone in the neighborhood is frozen except Cesar and Julia’s little girl.

What does it all mean? Well, on a broad level it is a very physical manifestation of Francis Ford Coppola’s central message, which is that we must create and leave behind a better society for our children. Children are the hope of the future, and now Julia and Cesar’s baby determines what’s to come.

On a practical level, yes, we are worried about the baby too. She’s still a baby. Can she control time yet? Does she have any idea of ​​time at all? Who will take care of her in this frozen world? The mind boggles!

“Megalopolis” is now in theaters everywhere.