Babylon
★ ★★★
If anything, you can't fault Damien Chazelle for not going for it. He certainly has a vision and dares you to take the ride from the very first scene of Babylon. I want to celebrate this film because it's a film that is tailor-made for me. For one, it's a movie about making movies, but also the love for the art form itself. Chazelle walks this thin line of admiration and contempt. He completely destroys the preconceived notions that someone may have for silent film and the early days of talkies. It's easy to look back at old black-and-white photographs and think, "Well, those were simpler times!" Chazelle decides to take an elephant dump on that nostalgic way of thinking.
Babylon is a love letter to the good, the bad and the ugly of the film industry and he uses multiple storylines and characters in innovative ways to weave this tale. It's fair to say that he tries to do too much. Where some arcs tend to succeed, a lot of paths aren't given enough time. The balance is off a lot of the time, but there are several scenes in Babylon that are amazing to behold. A lot will be made of the opening party scene merely for its sheer boldness, but I thought the scenes where we see a day in the life of a silent film shoot and another where Margot Robbie's character is trying to hit her mark are some of the most memorable scenes that I've seen in a film in quite some time. Along with these scenes, the use of music, editing and composition in Babylon made me think of other greats like Martin Scorsese and P.T. Anderson.
Robbie is particularly spectacular. She has this amazing balance of being stunning and disgusting all at the same time. Pitt is also solid playing a washed-up silent film star. Diego Calva does his best to hang with these giants but you can always sense that he's just as surprised as his character to be where he is in life.
Babylon is an extremely interesting case study that a lot of audiences won't be willing to give a chance. It's not near a perfect film but has glimpses of genius strewn throughout. I love how Chazelle makes his vision come to life and though he is trying to throw out too many messages and themes, Babylon is certainly a movie that you won't forget.
