Written by: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li
Rating: [4.5/5]
The magic of Hollywood remains prevalent through the films it produces and the glitz and glamour the public watches on red carpets, creating an alluring and distinct image. This image is part of the marketing of the entire industry that does not entirely paint an accurate picture of its underbelly and the depravity that sits right below the surface. Babylon seeks through great graphic detail to lift the rocks and let everything see the light of day and does so in such entertaining fashion.
In 1920s Hollywood, Manny Torres (Diego Calva) seeks to find his way into the industry and make his mark. As he works in completing various odd jobs for prominent figures, he helps transport an elephant to a party where he meets established star Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) and a new dynamite figure on the scene, Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie). As they all navigate the industry’s shift from silent films to utilizing sound, they try their best to remain relevant in their line of work.
While containing various levels of intensity, the films of Damien Chazelle have mostly been slick and clean productions. As he crafted his blank check movie in Babylon, he went into a completely different definition. From the subtle and quiet emotional impact of First Man, he now decides to let it completely loose as he takes us back to Hollywood in the roaring 20s and exhibits all of its hedonism and debauchery. In a way it verifies the perception many have of this section of Los Angeles even today. Therefore, it makes sense why this film would later cover the difficulty involved in creating films when the Hays Code came around.
This debauchery appears fairly instantaneously as this grand party introduces all of the players involved. As Manny makes his way through this grand hall, we witness pretty much every single vice one could possibly think of within reason. A tapestry of opulence and indulgences spills out from every corner as the wonderful, jazzy score of Justin Hurwitz blares through, setting the stage for exactly what Chazelle seeks to highlight through this film. You can only imagine the smell in that room with everything going on, but through the filmmaking involved, the film feels like it creates sensory overload, which may impact viewers differently.
Upon its release, it left many polarized due to its messiness, but in my estimation, it presents a beautiful ode to the world of filmmaking and all of its flaws. When comparing this film to something like La La Land, it’s obvious what creative liberties Chazelle had to work with as his 2016 film focused on this clean and joyful world of dreamers. With this film these dreamers work through a much different environment, making for something that is quite messy throughout but ultimately so memorable to take in as we see the journey of our various characters involved.
While Diego Calva’s Manny serves as the audience surrogate as we see everything transpiring through his eyes, the character everything gravitates around is Margot Robbie’s Nellie LaRoy. From the opening party where she releases all inhibitions and impresses everyone to her journey to becoming a star in the silent film era, Robbie helps make this character relentless and captivating to watch. She comes in like a wrecking ball and begins to accomplish her stated goal of becoming a star without a care of who she offends along the way. Her pairing up with Manny throughout makes up quite the duo as he tries to present himself as this calming force while she’s this firebrand ready to burn down every establishment she enters with the energy she so effortlessly emits. Through Nellie, we can see what makes for great acting within the silent era in the way she can emote and move that makes an impression on audiences. It further underscores the true beauty of this film in the way it displays the magic of moviemaking.
Certainly not the first film to show all of the intricacies that go into the films we take for granted, Babylon seeks to display the sheer chaos that goes into it. We see this when Manny goes on this quest to retrieve a new camera to capture a shot just as the sun hits at the exact right spot for one singular take that will make or break the movie. It highlights how the production of every film is a miracle given all of the components that have to go right and all of the collaboration required to pull this off. This film has no intention of displaying its ease but rather all of the grunt work that goes into it through Manny as he continues to build himself up through the industry.
Utterly mesmerizing and a mess at the same time, I can understand how some did not care for what Babylon presented as a whole, but it certainly entertained me. All of this rambunctiousness had a purpose in displaying a particular time in Hollywood’s history that fermented the types of behaviors we do not want to think about but certainly transpired. In a way it serves as a companion piece to the aforementioned La La Land and Singing in the Rain, except it drops the pretense of a squeaky-clean Hollywood and exposes all of its glaring faults in the most uproarious manner that leaves no stone unturned. Chazelle strikes again as he continues to prove himself as an exceptional filmmaker.
