Directed by Damien Chazelle
Language: English
Year: 2022
Shaun’s Rating: 3.3/5 ★
Before Watching:
It seems that most major film studios can only go so long without making a movie about themselves. I am yet again struck by Hollywood’s obsession with immortalizing the magic of their own craft—so deliriously so that they’re willing to sink $80 million into a film that nobody outside of Hollywood even asked for. La La Land (2016) was cute, but you need to start thinking about how much your message translates to people outside Beverly Hills, Damien. His latest film-about-film Babylon flopped at the box office (only returning ~$15 million thus far), but despite its financial failings, managed to deliver a compelling and entertaining journey.
“A love letter to cinema that made me hate cinema.”
Babylon chronicles the transition from silent film to “talkies,” as seen through the lens of several young enterprising entertainers. We’re introduced to the ensemble cast at an unhinged Los Angeles bacchanal, hosted by eminent leading man Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) at the studio’s executive mansion. Aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) manages to sneak into the festivities by enchanting a member of the attending staff, Manny Torres (Diego Calva). While Nellie and Manny profess their adorably naïve showbiz dreams to each other over back-room drugs, on the main stage we meet prolific trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) and daytime intertitle writer/nighttime cabaret singer Lady Fay Zhu1 (Li Jun Li). A series of mishaps lead Nellie and Manny to face their dreams at a real film set, kicking off whirlwind careers that only reel out of control when audio comes to Hollywood. In a classic case of “Video Killed the Radio Star,” innovation tests these young creators’ hold on their craft—some blossom, others wilt.
The film is positively bonkers from start to finish, truly stretching the limits of what the MPAA will rate R2. Luckily, Chazelle keeps a strict tempo that makes the 3+ hours feel bearable, employing the electric social culture of Prohibition-era Hollywood to guide the character arcs. The story, often as unbeholden as it is unfocused, is entertaining even when the camera pulls away from the raunchier shots. Chazelle’s directing (like his characters) revels in the hedonism and excess of the epoch, framing debauchery with quick zooms and cuts and darts before stealing extreme close ups of Nellie’s raw emotion. Underneath the film’s insanity, we find real human stories of individuals taking their place in history, hoping to make their mark on something larger than themselves.
Babylon is—in my book—a split board between genius and detritus. The film could be an hour shorter without sacrificing any depth, and it could lean away from masturbatory tropes about how filmmaking is the purest form of art (*cough* The Fabelmans *cough*). Nevertheless, the acting is convincing, and the production design is stunning, with set pieces and editing that make it clear just how much Chazelle loves having an expanded budget since La La Land. The film is certainly scandalous enough to swap out Hanging Gardens for beg-your-pardons, but if you’re up for some depravity, load the reels and cue the audio track.
Babylon premiered in December and can now be seen in U.S. theaters.
After Watching:
Toby Maguire’s Opium den gangster was my absolute favorite part of the film. The sharp genre shift into psychological thriller as we follow him down the cave of progressively more horrific sights is so refreshing and invigorating that it evokes Bong Joon-ho—the undisputed king of twisted basements and twisting genres. The sequence is not only brilliantly suspenseful, it also affords us a much-needed change of pace from the quotidian career drama that drags down Manny’s character for most of the film. Down there, Chekhov’s Gun becomes Chazelle’s alligator.
It’s also refreshing that Chazelle doesn’t gloss over the less-than-glitzy parts of the early film industry. Sidney’s obligation to wear blackface, Nellie’s descent into gambling addiction, Fay’s termination and Jack’s untimely departure… all are emblematic of the dark reality underpinning the era. This commentary, of course, would have been crisper if Chazelle had spent more energy on pulling in true history and less on filming drug culture in the most epicurean, teenage light possible. Not to mention the largest energy suck of the whole film—the last ten minutes, which felt manic and unearned. It conveyed like the tunnel scene in Willy Wonka, but somehow longer and more nauseating… also, splicing in a clip from Avatar (2009) while its sequel plays in the next theater over is practically criminal.
Ultimately, Babylon is a mitigated achievement. It certainly accomplishes its aim—entertaining while raising some eyebrows—but perhaps too frequently at the expense of reason and taste. The film is never slow enough to be Blah Blah Bland, while never quick enough to cause Whiplash; a Goldilocks story in many ways, Babylon is only blown down by the Big Bad Wolf of Wall Street. This type of movie requires more financing than it can feasibly return in box office sales, and studios like Paramount pay a price for their vanity and self-indulgence. This failing has become the elephant in the room, and Babylon shows what elephants are capable of when they’re at their bursting point.
A character based on Anna May Wong.