Paramount Pictures
Damien Chazelle, the man behind La La Land and Whiplash, which I consider to be some of the best films of the 2010s, has graced us once again with a tale about Hollywood. A 3-hour epic starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt had the fixings to be a smash hit with audiences, but a quiet $3.5 million opening tells me otherwise. As many movie-goers traveled to theaters to see Avatar: The Way of Water, Babylon was quickly forgotten about in theaters, leaving it as a box office disaster. Many people are missing is what I think is the most entertaining and sincere film of the year.
Damien Chazelle’s fifth feature film explores the Roaring Twenties as many actors, actresses, directors, and musicians navigate the silent film era. An all-star cast of Diego Calva, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, Olivia Wilde, Samara Weaving, Jean Smart, and more all have stories of ambitious dreams in Hollywood.
Damien Chazelle has always been someone to implement a style of direction that is unique and impressive. He uses techniques that are worth watching a behind-the-scenes video to see how certain shots are created. If it’s capturing high intensity scenes or following characters walking down a street, the amount of thought that Chazelle puts into each scene is captured. The film is beautiful to look at. Chazelle captures the look and feel of a movie set in the 1920s and 30s. Set-pieces feel grand, with a lot of the cast interacting with them. I’m also fascinated by movies that explore filmmaking. Chazelle utilizes the 3-hour runtime to feature the production of several films, which shows the beauty and struggles of filmmaking in the 1920s.
The cast is phenomenal here. Diego Calva, Margot Robbie, and Brad Pitt give some of the best performances of the year. Each character has their own story and how Hollywood affects them. Their journeys feel personal to them as they all explore different parts of the movie business. Calva brings the determination and curiosity to Manny. His character changes drastically throughout the film and Calva keeps up with the quick development of Manny. At one point Emma Stone was attached to Babylon but dropped out and was replaced by Margot Robbie, which was the best choice for the film. Robbie is absolutely insane in the film and she embraces the drive to be successful in Hollywood. She knows she is a star and will stop at nothing to prove that. She is a wild card, but her story turns into a heartbreaking part of the film. There was a lot of depth given to Robbie’s character as we start to learn who she really is and how her life is affected by acting. It’s almost as if she is channeling her performance as the DCEU character Harley Quinn in some scenes. You never know what she is going to do next and how far she will take her performance.
We finally come to Brad Pitt, who enters the film as the veteran actor. The highs and lows of an actor’s life is shown in Brad Pitt’s character. Critics, audiences, and filmmakers all have a hand in how an actor’s career turns out. Jack Conrad is the perfect example of that and Pitt gives an emotional performance of someone who struggles with their career and having to prove their worth in films.
While this film offers dramatic scenes about the struggles in Hollywood, it doesn’t skip out on the humor within the film. Chazelle approaches that humor strategically by using transitions as a way to deliver laughs. Chazelle sets up a scene that is bonkers and gets the crowd roaring then immediately transitions to a more subtle scene that has nothing to do with the previous scene. The quick transition allows for laughs due to the abrupt change in tone and scenery. Chazelle also uses situational humor as a way to bring out the craziness of the film. From elephants defecating on people to filmmakers losing their cool on set, Chazelle doesn’t shy away from giving us grotesque and wild scenes.
Babylon isn’t for everybody, and Chazelle makes that clear. The style of direction and how Hollywood is depicted may be too much for some people. As someone who loves his style of filmmaking, I appreciated the story of Babylon and how Chazelle shows his love for film and provides the message of preserving film. I totally understand why it bombed. A 3-hour-plus film released right next to the 3-hour-plus Avatar: The Way of Water probably has movie-goers choosing wisely what to spend their time on. I can see Babylon gaining a cult following once it is released to home video. Hopefully once it hits streaming services and home video, people will watch because it is a film worth visiting.
Babylon has a run time of 3 hours 9 minutes, and is rated R for strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity, bloody violence, drug use, and pervasive language.
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