After an "interesting" opening scene about our main character Manny (Diego Calva) trying to get an elephant up to a party in Bel-Air, Babylon floors the gas pedal and barely comes up for air for the rest of the run time. I wanted to credit Damien Chazelle and his team for providing a unique experience in regards to pacing, setting and tone. The expression "fever dream" is overused but Babylon is captured in such a chaotic and constantly shifting way that kept me enraptured. The movie looks fantastic and even if you don't have an interest in this period of cinema, I don't doubt that Babylon will still pull you in. The costuming and sets are dynamic and show how disorganized and tumultuous early Hollywood was. I was hooked from the get-go and for all the movie's flaws, its presentation is vibrant and fast-moving to keep help you entertained.
While Babylon is distinctive with its look and pacing, when it comes to the characters, things are a little more familiar. Conrad and LaRoy are loosely based on a couple of people from that era but the lessons the movie wants to teach us about Hollywood chewing up and spitting out talent are pretty routine. I think Babylon is effective at getting those across but I was a little let down that the movie starts so bombastically and then quietly tip toes into conventionality by the end. Some characters are meant to be less distinctive (Manny is the audience avatar for example) but while I wish they were a little more fresh, I did want to follow them throughout the length of the movie.
Damien Chazelle has enough of a name now that he could probably get any actor/actress he wanted in his cast. He still attracted some big and interesting names for Babylon. I think every member of the main cast did a fantastic job and it's a credit to them and Chazelle for getting the most out of his performers. Brad Pitt's the biggest name and I really enjoyed the work he put in as Jack Conrad. He's appropriately funny in Conrad's lush and over-the-top behaviour but he garners some genuine sympathy for him when the world turns against him. Pitt could have played it so big that he came off as an entitled prick but there's some warmth and passion to Conrad and Pitt gets that across. I've always liked Margot Robbie and she's on point here as Nellie. She throws herself into it completely, there's a surprising amount of physicality and nuance in Nellie's whirlwind behaviour. Much like Pitt, she's really funny when she is given the opportunity to be. Despite the pretty telegraphed arc for her character, you understand why Manny can't resist Nellie even when it's crystal clear she's bad news wrapped in pretty packaging. I would hope that Pitt and Robbie both get awards consideration for their work here. Diego represents the audience, he's witnessing all the craziness and has to go along with it. He's a pretty blank slate but there's enough from Diego that his character is distinct and you understand his motivations. I want to credit Li Jun Li and Jovan Adepo as Lady Fay Zhu and Sidney Palmer respectively. Their characters are written with a heavy hand but both are sympathetic and have their respective moments. The oddest casting is Tobey Maguire as threatening mobster James McKay but Maguire's surprisingly good at being a creepy underworld figure.
Getting to the negatives, Babylon is a movie that indulges in the exact same vices that it's lambasting. As a film, Babylon's determined to show all excess and hedonism of the era in all its "glory." I appreciated some of this but there are moments where the movie gets pretty gross (there's an early scene involving a elephant that is going to shock people) and while I get what Chazelle and his team are trying to show, was it really necessary? I'd argue not. Babylon's lengthy run time is also going to drive some people away but it also has an affect on how the story twists and turns. Characters that started out with more depth gradually turn more generic (Nellie specifically comes to mind) and you could have easily trimmed some of the fat off this movie. The total length of Babylon feels a little self-indulgent and while the previously mentioned frenetic pace keeps you guessing, it saps some of the ending's impact. I got what the movie was trying to say with its wrap-up but I can't deny I was bouncing in my seat in anticipation of getting to leave.
Just like the lavish and insane partying that Babylon presents, you have to choose to take the hit of whatever your poison of choice is and dive in headfirst or not to indulge and slip out the back. Babylon is going to be an incredibly polarizing film and while I enjoyed large parts of this movie, there were also many scenes that fell flat for me. I'd grade Babylon somewhere between a 7 and an 8 but I'm rounding up because there are moments where Babylon has some real cinematic magic. I'm not comfortable wholesale recommending Babylon, if you're interested in a Wolf of Wall Street style comedy about the excess of Hollywood in the 1920s that gets pretty dark, check it out.
