Babylon (2022)

Babylon is grand and exhilarating. At 3 hours and 15 minutes, it’s a journey one has to brace themselves for. In fact, due to its length, I’ve avoided watching it over these past eight months because I knew it needed my full attention and focus, as well as my patience.

I like director Damian Chazelle.  Whiplash and La La Land are two excellent films.  And while I knew very little about Babylon while it was being marketed late last year aside from the fact that it took place in "old" Hollywood, I suspected something exceptionally creative and ambitious. And that is precisely what Babylon was.  While I found the third act to be somewhat underwhelming, it did not detract from the beginning parts of the film which were exciting, original, and highly entertaining.  

One thing that came up throughout the movie was my questioning of its authenticity. More specifically, its historical accuracy. There is excess and debauchery in abundance during the Silent Era which is primarily when the film takes place.  

There is also notable diversity. Babylon shows a highly successful Black male musician, a Latino film executive, and an Asian singer. They all work and party together in orgiastic fashion. Late 1920s Hollywood was many things, but ethnically diverse and equal in opportunity, I am not so sure. Babylon subtly addresses that fact. There are scenes of racism making it clear that this isn’t necessarily some idealized utopia for dreamers and ambitious types. Or is it?  

Tinseltown, as portrayed here, is the Wild West. Where anything goes. It’s a vision. A party you want to be invited to.

And that’s where we start. The film opens on a lavish party in a mansion in the middle of the desert. People of all sorts celebrate to drum beats in a kind of primal fashion. Manny Torres (Diego Calva) over sees the event. He meets Nellie Laroy (Margot Robbie), an aspiring actress who he quickly becomes smitten with.  Manny uses a giant elephant to distract the crowd while he sneaks out an actress, Jane Thornton (Phoebe Tonkin), who has overdosed on drugs. It is at this party that we’re introduced to silent film star, Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), cabaret singer, Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li), and jazz musician Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo).  Laroy is spotted and chosen to replace Jane in a film set to start shooting the following morning.  Meanwhile, Manny gets a job as an assistant on the same shoot from a drunken Jack whom he drives home.  

The following day we’re in the middle of the desert with numerous film sets, carefully designed backdrops, and hundreds of extras. The scene is chaotic. Laroy kills it as the star of the silent film: crying on demand and taking direction like a seasoned pro. She quickly becomes a film star. Covering her new status as ‘it girl’ is Elinor St. John (Jean Smart), a gossip columnist who’s the voice of the town in some ways.