Babylon

It’s sad that the discourse around Babylon is centred on its box office failure, for it should be around the delightfully unbridled creativity and rich storytelling that Damien Chazelle has delivered in his most audacious feature yet. It could be blamed on the marketing and, sure, the trailer obfuscates what the movie is actually about – but how could a three-plus hour epic be condensed into two minutes?

In essence, it’s a cultural study of 1920s Hollywood through the lens of several dreamers: Jack Crawford (Brad Pitt), the all-American movie star of today; Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), the brazen movie star of tomorrow; Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo), an incredibly talented jazz trumpet player; and Manny Torres (Diego Calva), the well-liked production assistant making his way up the industry ladder. The movie de-glamourises the film biz, pitting its characters up against a potpourri of malfeasance, from erratic film shoots to unsavoury dealmaking to plain old racism and sexism.

If there was a “why now?” posed in the pitching stage of this bombastic $80m project about revisiting Old Hollywood, it would be that it’s still a reflection of contemporary movie-making and all its issues. Through the journey of excess and digging deep into the dark heart of the business, Babylon appears to contradict itself in exposing the ugly elements of the craft but also wanting to celebrate the art, constantly rewarding its audience with jubilance after long anxiety-inducing sequences that equate to watching episode seven of The Bear on repeat. But the character arcs close at a point where the message is clear: despite the results, this approach doesn’t end healthily for anyone. It’s a loud call for the industry to be kinder.

It’s a message that may not resonate with mainstream audiences tuning in for one reason or another – how could the La La Land filmmaker assume everyone has the same nostalgia and interest in Hollywood as he does? – but even those with little sympathy for the subject at hand will be deliriously entertained by Chazelle’s grotesquely brilliant vision, as he takes cues from the masters, including Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights is a major point of reference here) and Charlie Chaplin to serves up a kaleidoscopic spectacle that makes most blockbusters looks cheap, unfunny and lazy. It’s utterly dazzling; see it on the biggest screen possible.

Musanna Ahmed

Babylon is released nationwide on 20^th January 2023.

Watch the trailer for Babylon here: