Babylon review

BABYLON: 

DAMIEN CHAZELLE’S ENAGAGING ALBEIT OVERSTUFFED TRIBUTE TO 1920s CINEMA! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Li Jun Li, Diego Calva, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Jovan Adepo, and Jean Smart in Babylon

 

            Writer-director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land, First Man) brings to the screen what La La Landwould look like from the perspective of a cocaine-addicted movie star in his new film, Babylon. I loved Chazelle’s work over the years with Whiplash and La La Land being among some of the best films I’ve seen in their respective years and First Man was an incredible biopic on Neil Armstrong both on a visual and emotional level. 

            Naturally, I was excited to see this movie when it was announced and upon seeing it for myself I can easily say that this is the cinematic equivalent of pure chaos. The film begins with a prolonged scene involving elephant feces almost immediately followed by a man getting pissed on by a woman, add in some drug-filled orgies, and a lot of uncalled for deaths (I’m not kidding!) and you got yourself one wild way to spend 3 hours during the holidays. 

While I don’t think it’s on par with Chazelle’s previous directing efforts and I do have some issues with it (Mainly the runtime and some plot points in the final act), I was engrossed in the story and invested in the characters from start to finish. It is definitely a divisive movie and will lead to several interesting conversations among moviegoers regardless of what they think of it, very much like 2019’s Joker the more I think about it. 

            Set in 1920s Hollywood, the film chronicles a series of events during the groundbreaking transition from silent films to the sound-era of cinema. However, as exciting as this new form of filmmaking is, the transition from silent to talkies has affected a lot of people in the industry, most notably silent film star and flamboyant party host Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Inglourious Basterds, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie-The Wolf of Wall Street, DC Extended Universe, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), and film assistant Manny Torres (Diego Calva-The Inmate, Unstoppable, Narcos: Mexico). 

            Through wild orgy parties that are blown out of proportions, behind-the-scenes drama that’s somehow more intense and crazier than the films being made, drug abuse, problematic filmmaking practices like blackface, and run-ins with a ruthless crime boss known as James McKay (Tobey Maguire-Spider-Man trilogy, Seabiscuit, The Great Gatsby(2013)), these people will witness the darker and more twisted half of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s technicolor dream from La La Land. 

            The film also stars Jean Smart (Frasier, Fargo, Legion) as Elinor St. John, Jovan Adepo (Fences, Jack Ryan, Watchmen) as Sidney Palmer, Li Jun Li (Quantico, The Exorcist, Ricki and the Flash) as Lady Fay Zhu, Lukas Haas (Mars Attacks!, Brick, The Revenant) as George Munn, Max Minghella (The Social Network, The Ides of March, The Handmaid’s Tale) as Irving Thalberg, Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Snake Eyes) as Colleen Moore, Katherine Waterston (Robot & Frank, Steve Jobs, Logan Lucky) as Estelle Conrad, Olivia Wilde (House, Tron: Legacy, Booksmart) as Ina Conrad, Flea as Bob Levine, Jeff Garlin (Arrested Development, Wall-E, Safety Not Guaranteed) as Don Wallach, P.J. Byrne (The Wolf of Wall Street, The Legend of Korra, Bombshell) as Max, Rory Scovel (Dilation, I Feel Pretty, The Eric Andre Show) as The Count, Eric Roberts (King of the Gypsies, The Dark Knight, Inherent Vice) as Robert LaRoy, Chloe Fineman (Saturday Night Live, Search Party, Father of the Bride(2022)) as Marion Davies, Phoebe Tonkin (H2O: Just Add Water, Tomorrow, When the War Began, The Vampire Diaries) as Jane Thornton, Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous, Saved!, First Man) as Officer Elwood, Pat Skipper (The X-Files, That 70s Show, Bones) as William Randolph Hearst, and Ethan Suplee (American History X, The Wolf of Wall Street, Clerks 2 and 3) as Wilson. 

            Overall, if La La Land was the colorful, sugar-coated technicolor musical then Babylon is its estranged grungy, drug-addicted cousin and I’m still trying to comprehend the fact that both films were directed by the same person. The difference really is night and day between the two films and while La La Land remains the superior film, this is one of the most insane cinematic experiences you’ll ever have. 

            I’ve already mentioned the crazy party scenes, but then you’ll get to moments where several silent films are being shot all at once with costumed people in the background, chases, fights, one of the sets catching on fire, and cast and crew members dying. Honestly, the sequences involving filmmaking are among my favorites in the entire movie, especially this sweeping camera shot that goes through all the different silent movie sets. 

            I also found myself getting invested in the characters and their dilemmas, even if they’re a bunch of privileged and stuck-up Hollywood people. They’re given a sense of humanity and you do feel legit sad when one of them dies or just simply going through hard times. 

            The acting is excellent, Pitt is once again a stand-out as this struggling silent movie star, Diego Calva is very sympathetic as a film assistant who is also Margot Robbie’s character’s love interest, and Tobey Maguire in a bit role brings his A-game with one of his most terrifying and against-type performances in his career. It’s Margot Robbie who steals the show as Nellie, she is fantastic in this movie and finds a perfect middle-ground between being troubled and relatable to outrageous. 

            For the most part, I was engrossed in the story, but I will admit I do have some issues with it that do keep the movie from being great to me. The narrative feels very jumbled together as if Chazelle had a bunch of ideas for different movies and decided to combine them all into one overstuffed spectacle, I’ll give this movie credit that it certainly wasn’t dull, some side characters disappear as the story progresses, and some crucial conflicts are left unresolved in the end, if the film had more breathing room and time to follow through with the resolution, I think it could have been the bizarro La La Land. 

            I also felt this movie didn’t need to be 3 hours long, for the first 2 hours I thought this was one of the best films I’ve seen all year, but once the last hour started, it lost some of its momentum from earlier and de-evolved from a great film to a good but overstuffed film. 

            Despite its flaws, I was entertained by Babylon, it may not be one of Damien Chazelle’s best, but if you’re looking for a 3-hour spectacle that doesn’t involve blue aliens or 3D glasses, this isn’t a bad one to check out. Not a glowing review, but it’s good enough.