Babylon has been nominated nominated for three Academy Awards for production design (Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino), costume design (Mary Zophres) and original score (Hurwitz).Sometimes we, as viewers/reviewers get upset when we read the nominations because the films we love are ignored. Well, in this case, the academy is spot on. The production, costumes and music in Babylon are absolutely magnificent and the film itself is more of a spectacle than a story.
Diego Calva was absolutely snubbed though. I am not sure if he was the main character, but his performance amongst the chaos was something to watch.
This film is way too long and way too busy. I watched carefully but I am still not 100% sure what it’s about.
Is it about Hollywood’s transition from silent to talkies to color?
It’s in there.
Is it about the wretched excess of Hollywood culture in the early days?
It’s in there.
Is it about up and comers, grizzled veterans and time passing us all by?
It’s in there too.
Is it about racism and the birth of anti-LGBTQIA sentiments in Hollywood?
Yup, that’s in there too.
Is it about organized crime thriving on the fringes of Hollywood, check.
For the better part of three hours this is a film that cannot find its focus. It’s dark. The story is dark. The film is dark… at times, the lighting is absolutely atrocious.
Let’s be clear, Damien Chazelle can write. Whiplash is a fantastic film. Babylon just isn’t. It’s so all over the place it’s hard to keep up and considering it’s about three hours long, one might think they’d have time to flesh out the story points. The dialogue is excellent, but is continuously drowned out by the chaos.
Margot Robbie has amazing gravitas and she is the tornado everything else seems to swirl around.
Brad Pitt is… Brad Pitt and his stoic steadiness tries, unsuccessfully, to bring some sanity to the chaos. I am a huge Brad Pitt fan, but it seems like most performances he gives now are Tarantino-esque. I miss 12 Monkeys, Meet Joe Black Brad Pitt with universal range. The aforementioned Diego Calva is someone we need to see more of. He’s a special talent.
Jean Smart plays a grizzled veteran gossip columnist and she is absolutely perfect. She has limited screen time because of how busy the story is, but she steals every scene that she’s in. Jean Smart works consistently, but if Hacks has told us anything, she doesn’t work enough. If you look at the amazing range required to effectively execute both her roles in Hacks and Babylon you will quickly realize she is an underutilized iconic talent. We need more of her.
There are wasted performances. Olivia Wilde is in Babylon for less than 3 minutes and she is fantastic, then we never see her again. It speaks to the transient nature of Brad Pitt’s romantic relationships in this film, but this seems like a disappointing choice.
Li Jun Li is exquisite as Lady Fay, a lesbian studio employee. What her job is exactly was unclear, but she is perfect in this role. I wanted to see more of her. I want an entire film about Lady Fay, who is probably the most interesting and truly complex character in all of Babylon.
Jovan Adepo stands out as musician Sidney Palmer, but his interesting and complex story winds up being a limited D plot in the chaos. That being said, the music in Babylon is magnificent and Adepo is at the center of it.
This is a visually interesting film and ultimately worth watching, however the issues are myriad and impossible to ignore. The cliches seem to take the forefront and the interesting complexities seem to get pushed into the background. There is also a variety of gratuitous nudity, violence and shock for shock’s sake.
In the end, this is a disappointing film. It has amazing talent, production values, music and scope.
Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work.
3 out of 5 stars
* * * * *
Produced by Marc Platt, Matthew Plouffe, Olivia Hamilton
Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle
Starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li,
P. J. Byrne, Lukas Haas, Olivia Hamilton, Max Minghella, Rory Scovel, Katherine Waterston,
Tobey Maguire, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Eric Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde
Produced by Marc Platt, Matthew Plouffe, Olivia Hamilton
Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle
Starring Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li,
P. J. Byrne, Lukas Haas, Olivia Hamilton, Max Minghella, Rory Scovel, Katherine Waterston,
Tobey Maguire, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Eric Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde
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