Babylon

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

Babylon follows a number of characters who rise and fall during the tumultous and extravagant early days of Hollywood. The first couple of acts in this film are skillfully handled, weaving an exuberant age of cinema riddled with behind the scenes debauchery. Every ounce of fame, high or lust is craved and chased after by our main characters; even as the telltale signs of their fantastical world begin to change around them. As the age of hollywood shifts we see our leads begin to be consumed by the very flame that they were chasing; losing their reputation or becoming addicted to something that destroys them. The theme of the feature is starkly obvious but it is painted well, at different points of Babylon we revel in the highs of cinema while also being sharply reminded of the lows by Chazelle. 

The thing that really makes Babylon stand out for the crowd is the thing that has always made Damien Chazelle stand out as a director: his incredible attention to all technical details of production. The way in which this film is shot is really masterfully handled, it moves and wheels through scenes but can also hold tremendously powerful stalwart close ups at a moments notice. The cinematography has such variety and tribute to well established styles or shots that you will honestly find a visual treat to behold. The editing for the feature sets a very fine pace, moving at regular beats and really lending each scene a great tempo. Justin Hurwitz's score for the feature is a real jazz love letter to the 20s, the music Hurwitz has done for Babylon is without a doubt my favourite aspect of the feature.

 

 Jean Smart, who played Elinor St. John, delivers some absolutely wry witty dialogue here; yet what I really loved about Smart's performance is her final monologue to Pitt in which she really strips back his ego and shakes up his whole character. Margot Robbie, who played Nellie LaRoy, is a real explosive amount of energy in this; watching Robbie basically playing an actress burning herself out in her efforts to gain and cling to fame was fascinating. Brad Pitt, who played Jack Conrad, really gets to portray someone authetically in love with both their idea of Hollywood and the debauchery they get to drown themselves in; I like that Pitt portrayed a figure who clung to honesty and honour right through his character arc. Li Jun Li, who played Lady Fay Zhu, is entirely enchanting in this and plays someone you believe could seduce anyone in a room; her chemistry with Robbie was entirely unmatched and I only wish we got more of them together. Olivia Hamilton, who played Ruth Adler, is one of the strongest characters in the feature; I loved the leadership you felt from Hamilton in her scenes and the constriction she played to when she had to start directing sound pictures. Tobey Maguire, who played James McKay, is the one shining light in the last hour; Maguire wild and unpredictable crime lord is a figure who really radiates darkness and captivates you while he is onscreen.

However, the best performance came from Jovan Adepo, who played Sidney Palmer. I thought Adepo had far less screen time than he deserved but in a lot of ways his subplot is the essence of Babylon. Any time I want to see someone ready to gain the heights of their aspiration, while also deserving that level of acclaim, only to be met with the uglier underbelly of Hollywood I look to the story here. When we first encounter Adepo he is a freewheeling musical talent, part of a trio. He clearly has a very unchecked ego to go with his massive talent and plays off against his fellow musicians very well. You get to see Adepo's confident exterior push him further and further into the limelight, which contrasts nicely with the scenes of discomfort he has at feeling like a prop for the rich white bureaucrats of Hollywood in later scenes. One of the most harrowing and hard to watch scenes of Babylon is when Adepo's character is asked to wear make-up to darken his skin so that he matches the skin colour of the band he is accompanying. It feels like the most authentic, horrific critique of Hollywood in the feature and the raw quiet rage Adepo brings is powerful. Getting to see him reconcile and play in comfort by the final act of the film makes this storyline easily the most well rounded of all the stories in the film.

 

The problem I really had with Babylon boiled down to two things: the theme was a little well worn and that final hour was egregious and felt like it veered way off track. Damien Chazelle has done a couple of films that examine ambition now and this particular examination of ambition in Hollywood has been done a lot by now. I think as an audience we deserved a story with a little more thought than just 'Hollywood is much darker and corrupt once you peel back the extravagance'. Yet ironically, if the film had just doubled down on this message I think things would have been better than the last hour we received. Babylon has been a highly stylized, fictional portrayal of hollywood up until now but around the final act it really turns into an absurdist fantasy. Our main characters meet crime lords who take them to devillish night clubs, they proceed to go on the run from said crime lord, promise to marry one another on a whim, the main character survives a shoot out by begging. The whole thing feels very contrived and desperate, it still wants to thrill and horrify you but it has become more linear and character focused than it was previously. The story it wants to tell now is something more resembling a crime thriller and the whole plot is beginning to clash with itself. By the time we finally cut to the future time jump and see Manny sobbing by himself in a movie theatre over all he lost but all that will be immortalized through film you can't help but feel the scene reeks of pretention that isn't earned. Damien Chazelle is a fantastic filmmaker but the storyline here staggers off the beaten path at a point and really loses its way. 

 

Diego Calva, who played Manny Torres, is a rather weak central protagonist for the film; he often seems more comfortable playing the unlikeable qualities of the character than he does playing what would make him more charismatic to the audience. Flea and Jeff Garlin, who played Bob Levine and Don Wallach respectively, don't give much more than you'd expect from stoic studio execs; watching them impassively bark orders didn't really blow me away as far as their performances went. Eric Roberts, who played Robert Roy, feels entirely miscast as Robbie's father; Roberts is so aloof and all over the show that you feel like he is playing way more over the top than is really necessary.Rory Scovel, who played The Count, is a pretty inane comedic performer who often feels like he showed up to the wrong set; Scovel's ridiculous character would be better suited to a Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler comedy than Babylon. P.J. Byrne, who played Max, was such an obnoxious attempt at adding comedy to scenes; Byrne's loud shouting barely passed as delivery and often undermined some great acting coming from Robbie and Hamilton. Samara Weaving, who played Constance Moore, is entirely wasted here; the film fails to even really establish a good or convincing rivalry between her and Robbie.

 

What could have been a beautiful examination of the glamour, depravity and hubris of Hollywood is often waylaid by its garish delivery and an inability to weave a theme cohesively. I would give Babylon a 6.5/10.