Film Review - "Babylon"

Babylon

Directed by Damien Chazelle

Starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva

"What's that you say? The director of La La Land has released a film about Hollywood's transition from silent to sound films in the 1920's?? Sign me up!"

*Three-and-a-half hours later*

"Oh."

I guess I'm doing a pattern with my reviews: divisive, universally acclaimed, and now back to divisive. The general public really does seem to be split down the middle with Damien Chazelle's latest, and I would say that's where I fall too. I liked most of Babylon, but definitely not all of it.

As I mentioned earlier, Babylon chronicles the period in Hollywood where studios were transitioning away from silent to sound films. The film focuses on how six(ish) characters navigate this changing landscape, including Manny Torres (Calva), a Mexican immigrant who loves movies and wants to be a part of something bigger, Nellie LaRoy (Robbie), a rising star with rough edges and a knack for getting into trouble, and Jack Conrad (Pitt) a legend of the screen who may be past his prime.

I think it's important for every fan of Damien Chazelle's La La Land to know...this is not La La Land. This is not a love letter to Hollywood*, but rather a criticism of it, specifically this era. Chazelle is intent to take the viewers' rose-tinted glasses off and show us the cruel and grotesque truth of this golden era. Thing is, Damien, you don't need to show me a POV of an elephant getting diarrhea to get that point across.

There's some really cringe and gross imagery in this film that might unsettle some. Many of it particularly comes from the opening sequence that has been seen in all the promotions, and a rather bizarre side-quest it takes in its third act, featuring an odd cameo from Tobey Maguire. 

That kind of leads me into my next problem with Babylon, and that is its 189 minute runtime. I can do long films. I love Avengers - Endgame, and I've watched The Irishman multiple times. But the script of Babylon lacks focus, so the pacing suffers, and that close to three and-a-half hour length is undeniably felt. Babylon wants to show us how this period in Hollywood effected all these characters, but it fails to juggle their stories. Lady Fay Shu (Li Jun Li), a Chinese-American lesbian cabaret singer, and Sydney Palmer (Jovan Adepo), an African-American jazz trumpeter, have very interesting arcs that aren't given all that much attention. So much so that you almost forget they're a part of this.

The main focus of the film is on Calva's Manny, Robbie's Nellie, and Pitt's Jack. Calva gives a fine performance as Manny, who is very much a proxy for the audience. An outside perspective invited to the big party, if you will. That aside, Manny is just not very interesting is a character. There's not much depth to the character, and is arc throughout Babylon is just rather convenient. Margot Robbie is giving her usual best as Nellie LaRoy, and commanding every scene, but I worry she's starting to get typecast. Nellie gives off the same vibes as say Harley Quinn in the Suicide Squad films, or her performance of Tonya Harding in I, Tonya (A film that I love by the way). Brad Pitt's Jack Conrad is by far the most compelling character in the film, as he's the one most effected by the changes around him, and Pitt plays him wonderfully. You can tell he's having fun with the role, and as if there's almost an emotional connection to it for him.

When Babylon actually focuses on how the men and women working in Hollywood at the time were effected by these major changes, it excels. There's a great sequence where Nellie is working on a sound set, and the entire crew is struggling to adjust to the new production techniques. Last thing of note is Justin Hurwitz once again delivers a great musical score to a Damien Chazelle film. It's a shame he lost the Oscar, to All Quiet on The Western Front of all films. (Like...War is hell. We get it. Move on.)

Babylon is an otherwise fine film, but its sum is not as great as its parts. I think some more time in the editing room, and a few rewrites of the screenplay for it to focus more on Pitt and Robbie's characters would have made this a much better film. I hate to say it, but some more studio supervision might have been necessary in this case. Again, I don't dislike the film, but it's not something I can see myself rewatching multiples times (like La La Land). That said the discussion on this film is very divisive, some calling it trash, and others a misunderstood classic. The discussion means Babylon probably won't be going away for awhile. So in some way, does that make it a timeless classic? I don't know, but again, Damien, POV shots of elephants with diarrhea...take a chill pill. This isn't an Adam Sandler film.

*The ending sequence of this film does not fit in with the rest of it, and almost makes you aware that you're watching a movie...which is probably good that it comes...at the end.*