By Yuvthi Misser
Content Warning: This review contains adult themes and mentions of drug use. Reader discretion is advised. Babylon is R-rated.
Poster for Babylon (2022). From babylonmovie.com
Babylon (2022) stars Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Brad Pitt, and other big names in Hollywood. The large-scale comedy-drama is also directed by Damien Chazelle, who directed the Oscar-winning films La La Land (2016) and Whiplash (2014). Babylon is set between the 1920s and 1950s in the period of transition between silent films and sound films in Hollywood. I had the privilege of attending a pre-release screening and was pleasantly floored by almost everything. The film’s tagline, “Always make a scene”, is an understatement for such an epic film about the transition from the strangely chaotic world of silent films to “talkies.”
With a jarring opening scene involving elephant faecal matter, party drugs being passed around on giant plates, and orgies happening in the background, Babylon rolls its title card thirty minutes into the movie. Manuel “Manny” Toress (Diego Calva) transports an elephant to a debaucherous party, where he meets Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), a young actress with an over-the-top personality who aspires to be a star. At the party, we are also introduced to the three other main characters, actor Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo), and cabaret singer Lady Fay (Li Jun Li). Through these five main characters, the expansion of film incorporating sound is explored where most characters meet their downfall just before they can reach a point of success.
One thing that truly stands out from the film is Margot Robbie’s character, Nellie LaRay. Robbie, who has been known for her talents in playing a wild-card character such as Harley Quinn in the DC cinematic universe, takes unhinged to a whole new level and does so ambitiously. Nellie LaRoy is a woman with a mission for stardom who is addicted to many things, including but not limited to cocaine, alcohol, and gambling. While Nellie does some truly outrageous things during the film, such as fighting and being bitten by a snake, Robbie’s electrifying performance shines even more when Nellie’s vulnerability is shown. A moment that testifies to this is when Nellie begins her first acting job on a chaotic film set where she dances on top of a table, reveals her undergarments and entertains a group of rowdy men. However, when the director asks for a close-up of Nellie’s face, she doubts whether the rowdy actress can cry on command. She is sorely mistaken when Nellie erupts into gut-wrenching, believable sobs. Astounded, the director continues to reshoot the scene, playing with lighting and specifics such as when a teardrop should be released. When the scene is finally wrapped, the director asks Nellie how she can cry on command so realistically, to which Nellie replies, “I just think of home.”
This moment is just one of a few in the film where the depth of Nellie’s character is shown beautifully, despite her larger-than-life characteristics. Robbie truly landed a role of a lifetime by playing a character filled with many different emotions and portraying them so viscerally.
Nellie tears up while the camera closes in on her face. Screenshot taken from Paramount Pictures on YouTube.
It is easy to appreciate Babylon's large sets and overwhelming, creative cinematography. While the film rightfully deserves this praise, I feel like an overlooked aspect is the score. Justin Hurwitz, the composer of Babylon’s score, has also worked with Chazelle on La La Land and Whiplash. The film’s core is about Hollywood’s transition from silent movies to sound, after all. After I had watched the film, I found the music from the final montage and Nellie and Manny’s theme replaying in my head. The music used in the final montage is a combination of the film’s various musical themes, which amounts to the music swelling in an overstimulating and overwhelming flourish as Manny relives his life in Hollywood while a montage of the evolution of cinema plays. Watching this moment in a cinema brought goosebumps to my skin. The finale perfectly encapsulates the entire movie’s tone, which is a chaotic, loud and messy time that amounts to overwhelming silence. Despite the industry having moved from silent films to talkies, the finale music demonstrates that Hollywood was wilder and louder before then. Paired with the visuals, the finale scene in its entirety shows how far moving pictures have come since the 1920s.
Babylon is an adventurous cinematic experience for anyone that can look past its debauchery and appreciate the raw, chaotic depiction of the orderless world of filmmaking before sound was brought to film. Despite what critics may think, Babylon earns its spot as one of my favourite films of all time due to its ambitiousness and the gritty depiction of what movie-making was like before rules and regulations were brought into Hollywood. It is a film for people who love and appreciate the art of filmmaking and for people who enjoy watching an explosive and colourful film. I highly recommend it for anyone willing to sit through three hours of chaos to appreciate the depth of Chazelle’s newest movie. You can watch the trailer here.
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