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Babylon (2022)
Hollywood wunderkind Damien Chazelle (Whiplash; La La Land) seems to be a stranger in a strange land with Babylon, an overblown and uncompromising look at Hollywood in the 1920's that finds Chazelle a little more invested in shocking, repelling, and confusing his audiences than entertaining them, providing about two thirds of a really incredible film experience.
Hollywood's transition to talkies is the canvas upon which this tale regarding the roles of sexual debauchery and studio head machinations that controlled Hollywood during a time of shaky transition in Hollywood is mounted. The story is told essentially through the eyes of four characters: Jack Conrad is a hard-drinking, womanizing silent matinee idol who is unable to make the transition from silent to talk; Manny Torres is a young Latino hustler who wants to be in the movie business, not really caring what facet of the business it is; Nellie LeRoy is a sexual wildcat who wants to be a movie star more than anything who achieves the fame she desires, but throws it away just as quickly, with a strong assist from cocaine addiction; Harry Palmer is a black trumpet player who goes from studio musician to a musical star in his own right but is thrown by the way people of color are treated in Hollywood.
Chazelle is definitely out of his comfort zone here, trying to present a thorough overlay of Hollywood from several angles, but his screenplay tries to cover a little too much territory, territory that I'm not sure Chazelle is really familiar with. The opening scenes of Torres and other characters being drowned in elephant feces, followed by the elephant making an unbilled appearance at a wild Hollywood party/orgy where we meet the other three central characters. This party scene ended up being the primary marketing tool for this movie, but this twenty-minute scene segues into a more straight-faced and melodramatic look at the effect that a changing Hollywood has on these four main characters.
and equally
This unknown Latino becoming a major studio executive before the halfway point in the movie never rings true, nor does Nellie LeRoy's meteoric rise to success and equally meteoric fall. Didn't really buy the underdeveloped story of Harry Palmer's disdain about being asked to wear blackface because most black actors at this time were playing maids and limo drivers and would have killed for the career that Harry Palmer had. Manny's infatuation with the self-centered Nellie didn't really make sense nor did his obsession with helping and protecting her. The only completely satisfying story was Jack Conrad's...a sad and more serious turn on Gene Kelly's Don Lockwood that provided the film's most endearing story. Research revealed that the Jack Conrad character was loosely based on 30's matinee idol John Gilbert, best known for the films he made with Greta Garbo.
Chazelle also seems a little obsessed with shocking his audiences with several moments that seemed to have been inserted purely for the purpose of shock values and adding to the film's severe overlength: In addition to the elephant feces, we get Nellie battling a rattle snake on the beach and Nellie's constant retakes of a scene leading to a genuine tragedy or her vomiting in the face of a party's host? Nellie's sad descent back to the bottom leads the audience down a predictable path and putting Manny in danger he didn't deserve. And Chazelle's pretentious finale, attempting to connect the events in this film to present day pop culture made for an unnecessarily long conclusion to a very long movie.
Chazelle's hand-picked cast was a big asset though. Margot Robbie really sinks her teeth into the part of Nellie LeRoy, delivering a slightly over the top but explosive performance that commands the screen, Newcomer Diego Calva, who reminded me of a young Antonio Banderas, displayed real promise as Manny. Also loved Jean Smart as a snooty gossip columnist, Lukas Haas as a romance-challenged producer, Flea as a manipulative studio exec, Eric Roberts as Nellie's father, a character that actually reminded me of Roberts' most famous character, Paul Snider in Star 80, PJ Byrne as a high strung assistant director and an actress I've never heard of named Olivia Hamilton was hysterical as a bitchy female movie director. Towering above all of them though was Oscar winner Brad Pitt, who is dazzling yet understated as Jack Conrad, a performance that had me falling out of my chair with laughter one minute and fighting tears the next. Pitt offers one of his top five performances here...watch him in that scene where he's watching the rushes of his first talkie or when he's trying to explain Hollywood to Manny. Pitt's performance alone makes this movie worth watching, but as a complete film experience, Chazelle doesn't top his work in La La Land or even First Man. The film has been nominated for three Oscars for Production Design, Original Score, and costumes, though I have to question if a lot of the wardrobe choices for Margot Robbie were authentically 1920's. I think Tom Ross' editing was worthy of a nomination. Chazelle definitely deserves an "A" for intentions.
Hollywood wunderkind Damien Chazelle (Whiplash; La La Land) seems to be a stranger in a strange land with Babylon, an overblown and uncompromising look at Hollywood in the 1920's that finds Chazelle a little more invested in shocking, repelling, and confusing his audiences than entertaining them, providing about two thirds of a really incredible film experience.
Hollywood's transition to talkies is the canvas upon which this tale regarding the roles of sexual debauchery and studio head machinations that controlled Hollywood during a time of shaky transition in Hollywood is mounted. The story is told essentially through the eyes of four characters: Jack Conrad is a hard-drinking, womanizing silent matinee idol who is unable to make the transition from silent to talk; Manny Torres is a young Latino hustler who wants to be in the movie business, not really caring what facet of the business it is; Nellie LeRoy is a sexual wildcat who wants to be a movie star more than anything who achieves the fame she desires, but throws it away just as quickly, with a strong assist from cocaine addiction; Harry Palmer is a black trumpet player who goes from studio musician to a musical star in his own right but is thrown by the way people of color are treated in Hollywood.
Chazelle is definitely out of his comfort zone here, trying to present a thorough overlay of Hollywood from several angles, but his screenplay tries to cover a little too much territory, territory that I'm not sure Chazelle is really familiar with. The opening scenes of Torres and other characters being drowned in elephant feces, followed by the elephant making an unbilled appearance at a wild Hollywood party/orgy where we meet the other three central characters. This party scene ended up being the primary marketing tool for this movie, but this twenty-minute scene segues into a more straight-faced and melodramatic look at the effect that a changing Hollywood has on these four main characters.
and equally
This unknown Latino becoming a major studio executive before the halfway point in the movie never rings true, nor does Nellie LeRoy's meteoric rise to success and equally meteoric fall. Didn't really buy the underdeveloped story of Harry Palmer's disdain about being asked to wear blackface because most black actors at this time were playing maids and limo drivers and would have killed for the career that Harry Palmer had. Manny's infatuation with the self-centered Nellie didn't really make sense nor did his obsession with helping and protecting her. The only completely satisfying story was Jack Conrad's...a sad and more serious turn on Gene Kelly's Don Lockwood that provided the film's most endearing story. Research revealed that the Jack Conrad character was loosely based on 30's matinee idol John Gilbert, best known for the films he made with Greta Garbo.
Chazelle also seems a little obsessed with shocking his audiences with several moments that seemed to have been inserted purely for the purpose of shock values and adding to the film's severe overlength: In addition to the elephant feces, we get Nellie battling a rattle snake on the beach and Nellie's constant retakes of a scene leading to a genuine tragedy or her vomiting in the face of a party's host? Nellie's sad descent back to the bottom leads the audience down a predictable path and putting Manny in danger he didn't deserve. And Chazelle's pretentious finale, attempting to connect the events in this film to present day pop culture made for an unnecessarily long conclusion to a very long movie.
Chazelle's hand-picked cast was a big asset though. Margot Robbie really sinks her teeth into the part of Nellie LeRoy, delivering a slightly over the top but explosive performance that commands the screen, Newcomer Diego Calva, who reminded me of a young Antonio Banderas, displayed real promise as Manny. Also loved Jean Smart as a snooty gossip columnist, Lukas Haas as a romance-challenged producer, Flea as a manipulative studio exec, Eric Roberts as Nellie's father, a character that actually reminded me of Roberts' most famous character, Paul Snider in Star 80, PJ Byrne as a high strung assistant director and an actress I've never heard of named Olivia Hamilton was hysterical as a bitchy female movie director. Towering above all of them though was Oscar winner Brad Pitt, who is dazzling yet understated as Jack Conrad, a performance that had me falling out of my chair with laughter one minute and fighting tears the next. Pitt offers one of his top five performances here...watch him in that scene where he's watching the rushes of his first talkie or when he's trying to explain Hollywood to Manny. Pitt's performance alone makes this movie worth watching, but as a complete film experience, Chazelle doesn't top his work in La La Land or even First Man. The film has been nominated for three Oscars for Production Design, Original Score, and costumes, though I have to question if a lot of the wardrobe choices for Margot Robbie were authentically 1920's. I think Tom Ross' editing was worthy of a nomination. Chazelle definitely deserves an "A" for intentions.