Babylon
Year: 2022
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Diego Calva, Brad Pitt & Margot Robbie
Runtime: 189 mins
BBFC: 18
Published: 31/08/23
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Diego Calva, Brad Pitt & Margot Robbie
Runtime: 189 mins
BBFC: 18
Published: 31/08/23
Every year has some major box office bombs but 2022 was an interesting year where some high-profile releases unexpectedly ended up being some of the lowest grossing films. One such failure was Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, a highly anticipated A-list driven drama that was widely marketed and projected to do exceedingly well. Made on a budget of around $80 million, Babylon grossed less than $65 million come the end of its theatrical run, failing to even earn back its budget. A huge loss of money for Paramount, and a somewhat puzzling result to one of the year’s big releases. But Babylon was not received well by critics or audiences for a number of reasons, and I was interested to find out why because I had been looking forward to seeing the film but just never managed to find the time to watch it.
It's the late 1920’s in Los Angeles and Hollywood is booming. With studios pumping out countless silent movies to make a quick buck and stars burning brightly but fleetingly in the public consciousness. Manny (Diego Calva) has dreams of breaking into the filmmaking industry however he can, where at a party he meets Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) who takes a shine to him and invites him along to a movie he’s shooting. Beginning Manny’s journey in the film industry from a put-upon runner, through to a studio executive. Also, at this party Manny meets Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), a wannabe actress who lands her first gig at that same party following a drug overdose of an actress that night. As Nellie and Manny’s lives intersect at various points, they along with Jack must contend with the changing face of Hollywood as the industry shifts away from silent movies and into the brave new world of ‘talkies’ and colour pictures.
It's the late 1920’s in Los Angeles and Hollywood is booming. With studios pumping out countless silent movies to make a quick buck and stars burning brightly but fleetingly in the public consciousness. Manny (Diego Calva) has dreams of breaking into the filmmaking industry however he can, where at a party he meets Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) who takes a shine to him and invites him along to a movie he’s shooting. Beginning Manny’s journey in the film industry from a put-upon runner, through to a studio executive. Also, at this party Manny meets Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), a wannabe actress who lands her first gig at that same party following a drug overdose of an actress that night. As Nellie and Manny’s lives intersect at various points, they along with Jack must contend with the changing face of Hollywood as the industry shifts away from silent movies and into the brave new world of ‘talkies’ and colour pictures.
Credit where it’s due, Babylon is funny. There’s a lot of moments where I was having a great time with it because of how fun it makes even the most frustrating and disturbing moments of this shaky time in Hollywood. But when you get down to it, Babylon is essentially a parody of Singin’ in the Rain, which in itself was a parody of what Hollywood was actually like in the 1920’s. It’s just grander in scope, and more vulgar in its depiction of events than Singin’ in the Rain would have ever been capable of being. Without spoiling anything, the ending of the film quite literally shows you a number of scenes from Singin’ in the Rain playing parallel to various scenes from Babylon, and they’re identical. This is just a mean spirited, and kind of nasty version of that film. For some that might be appealing, but for me it actually started to bug me, along with a number of other reasons.
The biggest hurdle to overcome is the three-hour runtime. Babylon is overlong, self-indulgent, vapid, and generally devoid of meaning. I get the sense that perhaps that was the point, to hold a mirror up to the excess, the arrogance, and the general attitude of Hollywood at that time. But I’d argue it’s been done better, and in ways that don’t feel like they disrespect my time and intelligence as much as Babylon does.
It’s so unnecessarily violent too. The sex and the drugs are one thing, but when you get a full blown twenty-minute detour starring Tobey Maguire as a fearsome drug lord dragging Manny through multiple levels of a sex and torture dungeon in LA’s sewer system, I honestly felt like a line had been crossed. This wasn’t there because it meant something, it wasn’t there to make an impact, it was there because Chazelle thought it would be fun. It wasn’t really that fun.
The biggest hurdle to overcome is the three-hour runtime. Babylon is overlong, self-indulgent, vapid, and generally devoid of meaning. I get the sense that perhaps that was the point, to hold a mirror up to the excess, the arrogance, and the general attitude of Hollywood at that time. But I’d argue it’s been done better, and in ways that don’t feel like they disrespect my time and intelligence as much as Babylon does.
It’s so unnecessarily violent too. The sex and the drugs are one thing, but when you get a full blown twenty-minute detour starring Tobey Maguire as a fearsome drug lord dragging Manny through multiple levels of a sex and torture dungeon in LA’s sewer system, I honestly felt like a line had been crossed. This wasn’t there because it meant something, it wasn’t there to make an impact, it was there because Chazelle thought it would be fun. It wasn’t really that fun.
But Babylon does get some things right. Robbie and Calva’s performances in particular are among the film’s strongest elements. Pitt also does a good job, though I feel he takes a backseat a lot of the time which isn’t necessarily a bad thing given his character.
Being a film directed by Chazelle you can expect a certain level of visual flair that is of course present, and Linus Sandgren’s cinematography does wonders for Chazelle’s wonderfully organised chaos. The jazz heavy score from Justin Hurwitz was excellent too and had me tapping my hands, feet, and bobbing my head all the way through.
I wouldn’t say that Babylon is worth seeking out for most audiences. It’s not worth the large time investment, and it doesn’t do anything well enough to really justify it. I’m sure for those who like Chazelle’s particular style then Babylon will certainly scratch that itch, but I really do feel that he has never managed to capture that same thrill and excitement of Whiplash, and even when compared to La La Land (a film I find massively overrated), Babylon can’t focus on anything for long enough to do it justice. Some fun moments, but largely forgettable.
Being a film directed by Chazelle you can expect a certain level of visual flair that is of course present, and Linus Sandgren’s cinematography does wonders for Chazelle’s wonderfully organised chaos. The jazz heavy score from Justin Hurwitz was excellent too and had me tapping my hands, feet, and bobbing my head all the way through.
I wouldn’t say that Babylon is worth seeking out for most audiences. It’s not worth the large time investment, and it doesn’t do anything well enough to really justify it. I’m sure for those who like Chazelle’s particular style then Babylon will certainly scratch that itch, but I really do feel that he has never managed to capture that same thrill and excitement of Whiplash, and even when compared to La La Land (a film I find massively overrated), Babylon can’t focus on anything for long enough to do it justice. Some fun moments, but largely forgettable.