By: Kimberly Grant
Like Amsterdam before it, Babylon has an ensemble cast that includes Margot Robbie and it’s set in the early 1900s. It’s also not worth the watch in the movie theaters, but you might be okay streaming it. Here’s the breakdown….
Babylon opens in theaters December 23.
An Ode to Old, Old Hollywood
Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, who brought us multi-Oscar winning films like La La Land and Whiplash, Babylon feels like the type of film that will tour the awards circuit. It speaks to Hollywood nostalgia. It has great talent. And, the film scores are amazing. But just because a writer/director puts out great content, doesn’t mean everything they touch is gold.
In Babylon, the audience is bearing witness to the transition from silent films to “talkies” in 1920s Los Angeles. The film is told from five perspectives and highlights what it’s like to make it in Hollywood and then lose it all to the changing times. It also shows a very ugly side of Hollywood.
What’s Wrong With the Talent?
The five perspectives are:
- Jack Conrad, an A-list white male (played by Brad Pitt)
- Nellie LaRoy, an up-in-coming starlet from a broken home (Robbie)
- Sidney Palmer, an African-American trumpet player with dreams of stardom (Jovan Adepo)
- Lady Fay Zhu, a Chinese performer who has to write short scripts to keep the bills paid (Li Jun Li)
- Manny Torres, a Mexican immigrant with dreams of being on a movie set while being an errand boy (Diego Calva)
Other talents include Jean Smart as gossip columnist Elinor St. John, Tobey Maguire as eccentric billionaire James McKay, and Phoebe Tonkin as an actress with perky breasts.
The talent mentioned above give their all to their performances. Pitt, who just keeps getting better with age, does a fabulous job as a man facing the major shift of a successful career. Adepo leans into his character acting as a musician whose entire life is the music that will, one day, catapult him to stardom. And, newcomer Calva seems to be the only really relatable character in the film. His starry-eyed performance helps make the film palatable.
The only thing wrong with the talent is Robbie insisting on playing characters who are selfish human beings who do disgusting things, all while using her Harley Quinn voice. Likewise, Maguire ups the creep factor in such a way that I can’t watch him play Spider-man for a while.
Missed Opportunities
Chazelle’s heart was clearly in the right place when he wrote this film. It’s told from the perspectives of marginalized people in Hollywood and gives audiences a taste of what their life was like before reaching stardom. Unfortunately, he leaves some things to be desired in terms of fleshing out all of the characters.
Adepo’s Sidney Palmer doesn’t get enough story and screen time to help the audience understand him and his plight. We get a glimpse, but not enough to really know Palmer. Instead, the audience is forced to watch Palmer be introduced playing his trumpet at a debaucherously vivid party scene and yell at his fellow band members. There was more to the Sidney, but Chazelle didn’t think enough of the character to share it with the audience.
The same goes for Lady Fay. There was clearly a lot more to her story, but Chazelle felt that her being a lesbian was enough to flesh out the character. It wasn’t. We the audience needed more and he just didn’t give it to us.
What Went Terribly Wrong
If you think the above is the worst part of the movie, you’d be wrong. The worst parts include the vivid debauchery mentioned above. There are multiple scenes where Margot Robbie is doing things that make me feel ill. And, then there’s the scenes in which a character calls a location, Hollywood’s a** h***. He wasn’t exaggerating. And, I won’t be able to unsee those things.
The film is also sensory overload. Some scenes have too much going on to gravitate to one thing. Other scenes are just hard to look at. And, there’s a sequence toward the end of the movie that just made we long for the ending of the movie, because it felt like I was being tortured.
Redeeming Qualities
The only reason to watch this film would be for the film scores, courtesy of Nick Baxter and his team. Pitt, Calva, and Smart give stellar performances. Robbie gives a good performance; if her aim was to disgust her audience.
Beyond that, save your money and wait until this movie streams. You won’t be able to watch it with the kids, though. Babylon’s rating is a hard “R”. And, you’ll want the ability to fast forward. Oh, and if you would like to witness the transition of old Hollywood as if you were high, then Babylon is the film for you.
Like dark comedy? Then you’ll like my review of The Menu.
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