Babylon: Film Review
I adored Damien Chazelle‘s last three films – La La Land, Whiplash and First Man – so I felt confident Babylon would be another winner. But after I read the divided reviews, I wasn’t so sure. I sit somewhere in the middle – I believe it is an astonishing piece of filmmaking but it’s far too over-the-top with its chaotic depiction of debauchery.
The film follows several intertwining characters as the Hollywood movie industry transitions from silent films to talkies in the 1920s. The leading trio is comprised of Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), an aspiring actress who becomes a star in “wild child” films, Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), an established star of the silent era, and Manny Torres (Diego Calva), his assistant who soon rises up the ranks as a studio executive.
Babylon also lays bare the seedy underbelly of Hollywood by showcasing the decadent and hedonistic Hollywood party scene. Chazelle doesn’t hold back with that side of the story, which is wild, outrageous and shocking – we see orgies, golden showers and a close-up of a pooping elephant’s butthole. And those are just a few examples! Chazelle goes full maximalist here and Babylon is just as excessive as the characters within it. While I could appreciate what he was trying to do, I thought it was gross, unnecessary and off-putting at times.
However, the party scenes are where Chazelle’s filmmaking genius is most apparent. The way the camera moves through the big party sequence is genuinely awe-inspiring. There are long takes that have so many characters and moving parts and must have taken so many rehearsals to nail down. I was particularly blown away by a seemingly continuous take showing lots of silent films being made side-by-side at Kinoscope’s outdoor lot.
I have no complaints about the filmmaking side of the story. My favourite scenes in the whole film were Jack’s silent war movie production and Nellie’s first day on a talkie shoot (shout out to the excellent Olivia Hamilton and P.J. Byrne here for their incredible work in this scene) and I found it fascinating seeing the evolution of movie sets over the years. I never really considered what a big impact the transition from silent films to talkies had on actors and the filmmaking process.
At 3 hours and 9 minutes, Babylon is unnecessarily long. I mentally checked out around the time Tobey Maguire appeared as a creepy mob boss alongside a phlegm-spitting security guard and I disliked his entire contribution to the movie. The story never recovered from there and should have ended around 30 minutes earlier.
Robbie is the star of the show as the wild, drug-taking gambler Nellie, who cannot be tamed even if her career depends on it. Calva is the heart of the piece and I wanted him to come out on top, while Pitt’s suave Jack made me laugh a lot. Elsewhere, Li Jun Li is captivating as the mysterious Lady Fay and Jean Smart is sassy as a Hedda Hopper-style gossip columnist named Elinor St. John.
Babylon is an ambitious epic about the highs and lows of Hollywood’s Golden Age that I cannot fault technically – it boasts stunning cinematography, Justin Hurwitz’s lovely score (which reminded me of La La Land) and top-notch production design. However, Chazelle takes it too far and it’s just a bit too scandalous to be something I’d ever revisit.
In cinemas from Friday 20th January