Babylon Review
Damien Chazelle’s past successes as a director(Whiplash, La La Land, First Man) certainly gave him the courage to swing for the fences with Babylon. While serving as an ode to old Hollywood, focusing on the transition from silent to sound film, Babylon also aims to highlight the depravity and gratuitous nature of the industry at the time. Some of its most shocking moments are akin to movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street and although it falters at times, Babylon is filled with plenty of memorable and powerful moments.
While it’s a bit of a mess, Babylon does a lot of things right. The acting is unsurprisingly top notch with Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt both delivering strong performances. Pitt as film star Jack Conrad offers one of the best storylines of the movie. A giant in silent film era, Jack finds himself to be of a dying breed, struggling with the transition to sound. His arc provides Babylon with some of its most poignant moments and does the best job in communicating Chazelle’s message of the power of cinema. Pitt has some particularly memorable dialogue later in the film as his popularity begins to wane and he sees that the end is near.
The most pleasant surprise of the film is Diego Calva’s debut role as the main protagonist Manny Torres. As he gets sucked further and further into the depths of the studio system and climbs up the ranks, his innocent persona transforms into something much more harsh, brutal, and confident. It’s a shame Calva hasn’t been getting more recognition for his work. He certainly deserves an Oscar nomination this year.
Another awards-worthy element of Babylon is Justin Hurwitz’s music. It gives so much life to what’s happening on screen. Chazelle’s love for jazz certainly comes through with Hurwitz’s work. Similar to Whiplash and La La Land, you sense his appreciation for the genre.
Amongst all the the shock and chaos, Babylon also manages to deliver some of 2022’s most memorable moments in cinema. A sequence involving Spike Jonze as a frantic German director trying to complete his masterpiece is fantastic. There’s another stand out, prolonged scene involving the difficulties of making the transition to sound film that is hilarious. It’s also pretty captivating getting to see the overall transformation of Los Angeles and the entertainment industry as the film progresses. The opening shot of Bel Air as an empty dirt field is a reminder of how built-up the city quickly became.
With so much to chew on, Babylon has a lot of positives but it tries to juggle so many different things, that it also falls short in some areas. The 3 hour plus run time is unnecessary. Some sections, especially the end scene which seems to drag on and on, could have easily been condensed.
The other very bothersome thing about the movie is the main points it tries to make. It seems very confused in what messages it’s trying to convey. Margot Robbie’s character seems to serve no purpose besides being a misguided and selfish wreck and for a film that seems to want to convey the awe of cinema, Babylon seems to be extremely critical of the movie business. It’s hard to understand whether Chazelle wants to communicate his absolute love for the medium or criticize the way the industry functions and is trending. Maybe he’s trying to provide the audience with a bit of both but it comes off as unsure of what it wants to be. Babylon leaves you asking the why behind a lot of its components.
Despite the jumbled mixed bag that Babylon ends up being, if you are a cinephile, the movie will stick with you in some fashion. It’s disappointing box office numbers make me fear that these types of releases will fade away. Big blockbusters like Top Gun and Mission Impossible are great but it’s important to support this type of filmmaking as well to keep getting diverse, unique, and creative content released in theatres. Hopefully we can continue to enjoy both and look forward to the future of cinema.
