A new cult classic, perhaps
Coppola is back and who knows what that means for the future. He seems to want to make more experimental films and that will be wonderful wherever it leads. This film is a reminder to the whole CGI industry about what a master can do (with the assistance of a master film editor like Murch). It's a visual feast, beautiful to watch and surreal without a computer. Any of us could make these kind of effects with a video camera...if we were Coppola!
As far as the story, it will be a cult classic because of its subject matter: spiritualism, Buddhism, the nature of time, the origin of thought, the meaning of birth and death, and a couple of Nazis thrown in for good measure. The scene with a lightning machine and a horse suspended from the ceiling is a classic (and one we couldn't do ourselves without the cash). Wonderful acting throughout.
And yet...it will be a commercial failure. It's too complicated and too weird. Nothing that a few tokes at midnight can't heal.