Babylon (2022) Paramount/Comedy-Drama RT: 188 minutes Rated R (strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity, bloody violence, drug use, pervasive language) Director: Damien Chazelle Screenplay: Damien Chazelle Music: Justin Hurwitz Cinematography: Linus Sandgren Release date: December 23, 2022 (US) Cast: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Eric Roberts, Tobey Maguire, Ethan Suplee, Lukas Haas, Max Minghella, Samara Weaving, Katherine Waterston, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Olivia Hamilton, P.J. Byrne, Rory Scovel, Telvin Griffin, Chloe Fineman, Phoebe Tonkin, Patrick Fugit. Box Office: $15.4M (US)/$63.4M (World)
Rating: ***
I have so much to say about Babylon, the latest film from writer-director Damien Chazelle (La La Land), it’s hard to know where to begin. Granted, writing the intro is the hardest part of any review, but it’s doubly difficult when the movie in question is a veritable maelstrom. That’s the state my mind was in as Babylon reached the end of its epic-length running time of more than three hours. It’s a lot.
In his most ambitious film to date, Chazelle has composed both a love note and poison pen letter to Hollywood and the often arduous craft of filmmaking. Both cynical and celebratory, Babylon is a flawed but fascinating multi-character piece set during the period when the industry was making the transition from silent movies to sound (circa the late 20s/early 30s). A lot changed with the rise of “talkies” and not all of it was good. This new innovation, while successful with the public, was a career death knell for some.
Don’t ask about the plot; there isn’t one. Babylon is like a hyper version of Robert Altman with Baz Luhrmann stylistic touches. It has a few intersecting storylines in which characters’ paths cross as they try to either achieve fame or hold onto it as it fades. Characters like Manny Torres (Calva, Narcos: Mexico), a Mexican-American working odd jobs- like transporting an elephant to a lavish party at a film exec’s mansion- for industry folks in hopes of making it as a filmmaker. The party is one of those wild, hedonistic affairs where literally anything goes. At the party, he meets Nellie LaRoy (Robbie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), a brash aspiring starlet with dreams of stardom. She’s determined to get her foot in the door by any means. Later, he’s tasked with driving home a drunken VIP guest, big movie star Jack Conrad (Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). He’s the guy who gets Manny his first on-set job, corralling about 100 unruly extras on a historical epic. Also in attendance are flamboyant gossip columnist Elinor St. John (Smart, Designing Women), jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Adepo, Fences), suicidal movie producer George Munn (Haas, Witness) and lesbian cabaret singer/intertitle writer Lady Fay (Li, Quantico).
Chazelle follows these people over a course of about ten years. Manny works his way up the ranks while Nellie experiences a meteoric rise and fall. The latter comes about due to a combination of bad behavior (drugs and gambling) and difficulty making the jump to sound. Manny, tasked with cleaning up her public image, puts her in the capable hands of Elinor, but Nellie is no Eliza Doolittle. Like many a superstar throughout cinema history, Jack goes from top Hollywood player to has-been. Used to being on top, he struggles to accept his new reality.
Babylon is a mess, but it’s an interesting mess. It’s uneven in tone with its tales of tragedy and lowbrow humor involving vomit, bodily fluids and elephant excrement. I don’t recall ever seeing a “golden shower” depicted in a mainstream film…. that is, until now. It’s long, but never boring. Quite the opposite, you can’t look away from all the sin, drama and debauchery. More than once, Babylon descends into total weirdness, the zenith being Tobey Maguire’s character. In his weirdest role to date, the former Spider-Man actor plays an unhinged mobster to whom Nellie owes an $85K gambling debt. He’s the kind of guy you laugh at in an attempt to keep your skin from crawling. There’s also a bit where Nellie fights a rattlesnake with disastrous/hilarious results.
Pitt and Robbie are both terrific in their respective roles. Pitt, a superstar in his own right, embodies the once-famous actor who can’t even get anyone to take his calls now. When he does get an offer, it’s one of those last resort deals. He brings his usual swagger and suave charm to a secretly insecure person hiding behind a bigger-than-life façade. Robbie does excellent work as the loud, profane girl from Jersey who just wants to be loved by everybody. She’s able to cry on cue, even control the number of tears shed, but her talent doesn’t extend beyond the silent screen. Calva delivers a star-making performance as Manny, the smartest person in any given situation. Resourceful and adept at improvising solutions, he’s also a guy in love with a girl who uses his feelings to her own advantage. Li’s character is the most interesting and the least developed. I wanted to see more of her.
As a film geek, I really loved the scenes showing movies being made. They accurately depict how difficult it often is to get a scene on film, whether it’s a lack of working cameras or constant noise interruptions on a set with sensitive recording equipment. Director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) cameos as a crazed German filmmaker making a silent historical epic. It’s funny and accurate at the same time.
Babylon brims with energy thanks to fluid cinematography by Linus Sandgren and excellent editing by Tom Cross. The period production design by Florencia Martin adds a strong note of authenticity. The score by Justin Hurwitz, alternately jazzy and beautiful, gives Babylon an opera-like quality. There’s a lot to like here even if it gets away from Chazelle more than once. He’s a great filmmaker, but he may have overreached with this one. It veers out of control at several points. As for the ending, I’ll only say you’ll never look at Singing in the Rain the same way again.
Overall, Babylon is a good guilty pleasure, a flawed masterpiece that will likely be revered twenty years from now.
