Babylon (2022) | Film Review

Director Damien Chazelle has shared his love of Hollywood before, most notably in La La Land. With Babylon, Chazelle aims to do it again, though this time he points his lens at the seedier, less glamorous aspects of Los Angeles. Starting in the “roaring twenties”, Chazelle kicks his grandiose vision of the bygone years of Tinseltown off with the most extraordinary Hollywood party ever put to film. From wrangling an elephant (which includes one of many moments of unnecessary wincing) to a live orgy to a dead starlet; everything you have pictured about the Hollywood of the past is represented. It’s a solid 30 minutes of nonstop music, dancing, character introduction and development, decadence, glamour, shamelessness, and excitement. So why isn’t Babylon better as a whole?

As cinema began incorporating sound in the late twenties, a shift of pedigree and talent took place. Babylon follows actors like our fictional Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), an established premier talent, and Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), a newcomer struggling with addictions of all sorts, as they transition from a strictly visual medium to a more audibly performative platform that required a tinge more. It was a brutal change for many, and the film highlights the exceptionally rapid levels of ascent and descent that remain factors in everyday Hollywood life today. Manny Torres (Diego Calva) is our window into the soul of this town, an everyman wrangler who works his way up the ladder and experiences all of the madness and chaos along the way.

Performances wise, there is nothing to complain about in Babylon. Margot Robbie is a force as she radiates her patented charisma – rightly proclaiming “I AM a star” – and claws her way into fortune and additional excess, Brad Pitt is perfectly cast as a silent film star struggling with the transition and finding every step of his lot in Hollywood fading quickly. Jean Smart, in a fairly quiet role as celebrity reporter Elinor St. John, gets the best monologue in the entire film as she explains the timelessness of movies. It is a moment that speaks volumes to the truth of why so many pursue this level of notoriety.

Babylon revolves around the transition from silent films to talkies, and there are moments of absolute cinematic excellence in these frames as director Damien Chazelle takes us behind the curtain to not only show you how the sausage was made, but also how notoriously mundane making movies actually can be. Diving into the depths of fleeting fame, how fickle audiences are, what truly makes a STAR, and how magical Hollywood can be. There is a musicality and fluidity to Damien Chazelle’s direction – everything from blocking to staging to shot composition to score is meticulously crafted – that once again showcases his ability to choreograph his films like a dance sequence, each frame carefully in sync with the next. If only he could have avoided overindulgence as at over three hours, Babylon is EASILY an hour too long.

Babylon is a celebration of filmmaking, specifically the debauchery and history of Hollywood from ages ago that still surrounds the town today. There are flickers of something fantastic here and there are moments that resonate long after we have left the theater. Yet ultimately there are far too many taps of the watch to elevate this film as being constantly reminded that the film is STILL not over becomes exhausting no matter how enigmatic Margot Robbie is at every turn. It is quite ironic that the same excessive, overwrought scenario that Chazelle is painting a visually stunning picture of here, is also the same overindulgence that dooms Babylon from becoming the masterpiece it deserved to be.