The Doctor’s Diagnosis: A-
Babylon is the movie that I wanted Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to be. The Tarantino flick was loved by critics and it bored me to tears. Babylon is hated by critics and I loved it. Go figure.
The film is about the silent era of Hollywood as it transitions to the era of the “talkie,” a movie with sound. As absurd as this may seem to younger audiences, the transition to using sound in movies was considered both revolutionary and risky; people really weren’t sure if audiences wanted sound at the time. The transition also caused an upheaval in Hollywood, as the stars and filmmakers in Hollywood tried to adjust to the new technology. Babylon follows four main characters as they try to make a living in this era: an aspiring actress (played by Margot Robbie), a silent-era leading man (played by Brad Pitt), an assistant that rises to the executive ranks (played by Diego Calva) and a jazz trumpet player (played by Jovan Adepo).
I can somewhat understand why this tanked with critics. The film is directed by Damien Chazelle, who became the youngest director to ever win the Oscar for Best Director for La La Land. With Babylon being advertised as a prestige picture from the director of La La Land, most people probably wouldn’t expect the sheer, unhinged debauchery in this film. The events in this movie make the antics of The Wolf of Wall Street look like a church bake sale, with watersports, orgies and enough cocaine to kill an elephant. Speaking of elephants, this also has one of the top five most graphic scenes I have ever seen of an elephant shitting on a man’s head. Maybe even top three. So I can understand snooty critics being upset when they expect a redux of La La Land and are instead watching a woman overdose on cocaine after pissing on a man’s face within the first ten minutes of the movie. I’m honestly shocked that this movie didn’t get an NC-17 rating.
I’m not above such entertainment, though. Beyond the copious sex and drugs, Babylon is sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad and, despite the over 3 hour running time, never boring. The first half of the film is laugh-out-loud funny, particularly an elaborate sequence on the set of a silent film that is absolute chaos. Three movies are being filmed at once, everyone is hammered, one guy dies, it’s absolutely bonkers. Margot Robbie’s first attempt at acting with sound also had me literally laughing out loud, as the newness and logistical challenges of the technology force an insane number of takes to capture a simple scene. While you can (and many have) debated the historical accuracy of the film’s depictions, the set pieces hilariously portray the chaos and confusion of this unique time in Hollywood history. The film does gradually become more serious and the dramatic moments are earned because the leads have made these characters so damn interesting. I honestly want to spend time with these people, and watching their inability to adjust to a new world felt tragic. The term “dramedy” gets thrown around a lot these days, but Babylon is one of the few recent films to nail both halves of the description.
The elaborate sequences take center stage, but there are smaller moments that will be appreciated by anyone that loves movies: Diego Calva sitting in awe as he watches The Jazz Singer, the first film in sound, and instantly realizing that everything is literally changing in front of his eyes. Brad Pitt berating his Broadway-star fiancé for viewing film as a lesser form of entertainment (there is also a great running gag that Pitt has a different fiancé pretty much every time you see him). Calva trying to deal with an unruly, drunken mob of extras. There is so much going on in this movie, and so many small moments that I enjoyed, that I want to see it again just to see what I missed.
The film is also a technical marvel. I’ve focused on the main characters, but the cast is enormous and multiple sequences involve hundreds of extras. Chazelle films this in the most challenging, but most rewarding, way possible with very long, uninterrupted tracking shots that go through so much chaos that one doesn’t know where to look when something interesting is happening in every corner of the screen. Equally impressive is the maddeningly catchy jazz score by composer Justin Hurwitz, which perfectly fits the era, alters tempos based on the tone of the film and was stuck in my damn head for days. It is the best film score that I have heard in years.
I’ve heard many critics say that Babylon is a biting criticism of film and question whether or not Chazelle ever really loved movies at all. Those critics are insane. While Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is the year’s (much) more sentimental tribute to cinema, Chazelle’s work is just as much of a love letter to film. Babylon comes from a much seedier place and shows that cinema can survive through tumult, chaos and tragedy. The 3-hour running time may be daunting, but Babylon is worth a watch if you are interested in old Hollywood and don’t mind some serious debauchery.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_(2022_film)#/media/File:BabylonOfficialTheatricalPoster2022.jpeg
