BABYLON movie review

BABYLON is directed by Damien Chazelle. The film stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, and Li Jun Li.

In the latter half of the 1920s, the film industry is in turmoil as talkies are replacing silent films. The experience is seen through the eyes of a woman who feels she was born to be a star who receives the opportunity of a lifetime, a servant turned Hollywood sound expert, an actor in the twilight of his career, and a Black musician struggling to make a name for himself amid these changes. Set in decadent times with unpredictability around every corner, only time will tell if they stay afloat and remain relevant.

BABYLON is a tough movie to cover, for the simple fact that there’s nothing quite like it. It’s every bit as overblown, decent, and indulgent as the times and the scene it depicts, and that’s the film’s greatest strength and weakness alike. No one can deny the movie looks phenomenal and the casting is top-notch; it’s arguably the greatest looking depiction of this era on the big screen. But its three-hour-plus running time is far too excessive, and it struggles to juggle its subplots, shortchanging many of its players.

BABYLON is expertly cast. It’s the second movie starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt based around Hollywood/the film industry (the first of course being Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD a few years back), and seeing the juxtaposition of a rising star and a falling one is quite the revelation; Robbie’s always entertaining and this may be her best film performance to date. Pitt’s his usual reliable self, and bless him for that.

But the best performance in the movie comes from relative newcomer Diego Calva, portraying a lowly servant at Hollywood parties who, through his over-the-top efforts to satisfy his superiors, finds himself in a lofty sound engineer and executive position. I’d never heard of this guy prior to seeing BABYLON, but his performance is a best revelation. This moviegoer is hoping to see the guy show up in more films. Also worth mentioning in a supporting role is the beautiful Li Jun Lui as a bisexual songstress who steals the show every time she’s on the screen.

Depicting this era is BABYLON’s greatest strength. Within mere minutes of the movie opening, we’re subject to a decadent party that would even make 1980s Sunset Strip rock stars blush; the visuals must be seen to be believed. BABYLON earns its R rating in more ways than one. It’s equal parts shocking, laugh-out-loud hilarious, and sometimes both at the same time.

Sometimes the best movies are the ones about the movie industry. The movie treads familiar ground to the classics 50s film, SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, which covered similar ground with the transition from silents to talkies (the title song from that movie unsurprisingly appears here), though Chazelle’s film is much more explicit and unflinching. Seeing the extremes to which people in the industry have to go and the frustrations they must endure to adjust must be seen to be believed; one sequence with Robbie’s character first acting in a sound film is the greatest “botched take” sequence I’ve seen in a movie since James Franco played Tommy Wiseau in THE DISASTER ARTIST. Many movies are love letters to film, and BABYLON is certainly that, particularly in its latter few scenes.

Sadly, as much as I loved aspects of BABYLON, many elements of the movie fall flat. The subplots regarding Robbie, Pitt, and Calva are fantastic, but the movie tries to cram in even more on top of this. The talented Jovan Adepo is the biggest victim of this; his Black musician is one of the most interesting characters in the movie, but his story feels like an afterthought that’s half finished. This story could’ve been its own movie, and perhaps that would’ve been the better route to go. The running time of over three hours is among the most excessive I’ve seen in a recent film, and the final product could easily have been a good 45 minutes shorter without a major loss of substance. If a Hollywood filmmaker is going to make a movie substantially longer than two hours, they had better have a good reason for doing so (is it too late to bring back intermissions?) Chazelle’s film mostly succeeds here, but to call BABYLON excessive is an understatement. It’s overblown and preposterous, but did it really need to be?

Despite its overabundance of characters, subplots, and unnecessarily long running time, BABYLON is ambitious and solid, with plenty of fantastic moments. The sets, atmosphere, and world building are some of the best I’ve ever seen in a movie. The performances from these actors are revelations, particularly the rising star of Diego Calva, who deserves a fantastic film career. Recommended, but just be warned that you’re in for a long ride that may or may not be for you.