Babylon (2022)
2/4
One of the most memorable movie experiences I had in 2022 came in the form of Damien Chazelle’s new Hollywood epic Babylon, which was released in December. This is one of those movies that I find very hard to sum up my feelings for—the technical brilliance battles with the incoherent storyline and the overly graphic nature of the film, but it’s one of the most haunting movie experiences I had last year.
Chazelle does a fabulous job directing the hell out of this movie. From Linus Sandgren’s stunning cinematography to Justin Hurwitz’s catchy and immersive musical score, everything on a technical level is Oscar-worthy, and that’s thanks to Chazelle’s firm grip on everything.
The acting is also spellbinding. First-timer Diego Calva delivers a memorable leading performance as Manny Torres. He’s really good in this movie, and I’m excited to find out what he does next. Margot Robbie’s performance as struggling silent film actress Nellie LaRoy is one of her best performances ever, and it’s totally worthy of an Oscar nomination as well. Also, Brad Pitt and Jean Smart are amazing in it as well; all told, the acting is one of the film’s finest aspects.
The movie kind of loses me, however, when it comes to plot. Babylon largely covers Hollywood’s difficult transition from the silent-film era to what was known as the talkies era and how difficult, or even career ending, it was for a lot of the Hollywood elite. This is the most interesting and entertaining thing about the film. Unfortunately, the third act of this movie really spoils all of that for me.
During this act, the movie tries to shoehorn in a half-baked mob plot that leaves the viewer totally confused. This wasn’t the best tactic, and I think that the movie would be much better without it.
Another thing about this movie, and this has been emphasized by a lot of other critics, but it’s worth repeating: Babylon really did not have to be this graphic. I mean, I know Hollywood during the silent age was dark and out of control, but we didn’t need it to be spelled out like it is in this movie. There are graphic scenes in this movie that were completely unnecessary and really do a disservice to the film.
Also, with a runtime of three hours and nine minutes, the movie is just too long.
Babylon has a stellar cast, engaging production values, and a toe-tapping score. Unfortunately, this alone fails to stop a nonsensical third act, the unnecessarily graphic imagery, and the over-stretched length from dampening my overall enjoyment of the film.