Babylon (2022) Movie Review

Damian Chazelle has become one of Hollywood’s most sought after filmmakers. His work over the past decade has been nothing short of extraordinary, directing J.K Simmons to the best supporting actor Oscar in 2014s ‘Whiplash’, to his livewire, critical and commercial darling ‘LaLa Land’, a sombre look at the life of Neil Armstrong in ‘First Man’ and 2022s ode to the golden age of 1920s Hollywood with ‘Babylon’. No two films in his filmography are the same, and I love that about his work. His 2022 film Babylon is one of the most insane feature-length, studio projects I have seen in quite some time, and I mean that in the best way possible. I commend everyone involved for their bold efforts here, not shying away from the excess and really pushing the boundaries of what can be shown in a major release. The film also clocks in at a whopping 3 hours and 9 minutes which is an insane runtime for a major motion picture. Babylon follows the stories of 4 fictional Hollywood talents from the 1920s Nelly LaRoy (played by Margot Robbie) an up-and-coming movie star destined for greatness, Manny Torres (played by Diego Calva) a young man yearning for the Hollywood dream, Sidney Palmer (played by Jovan Adepo) a talented musician struggling to conform with Hollywood norms and Jack Conrad (played by Brad Pitt) Hollywood’s former leading man, who is struggling to work in an evolving world. This film is utterly insane, and I loved nearly every second of it.

Babylon plays with traditional Hollywood norms but throws a lot of grand ideas to the wall to see what sticks. On one hand we have a traditional story of fame, fortune, and an ultimate downfall, which we have seen many times before, but on the other hand we have a seedy look into the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, and how the golden handcuffs of this lifestyle can lead even the purest of heart astray. It’s a fascinating meditation on the human condition, but told in such a way, that you find yourself swept up into a world of excess, glamour, and insanity. The structure of the story is by far the most interesting part. We follow four characters through various stages of their career as they all try and make it in Hollywood. I like seeing the variety here. We have the optimist in Manny, an immigrant trying to live-out the American dream in Hollywood. Neely LaRoy, an up-and-coming actress who gets her start from being in the right place at the right time. Sidney Palmer, an African American Jazz Player, who is trying to break down the cultural norms at the time to find his own way in Hollywood. And Jack Conrad, a leading man in Hollywood that has lost his way and begins to struggle with life not in the spotlight. All of these characters are very interesting, providing very distinctly different characters all in the same setting.

Damian Chazelle’s filmography has always been heavily inspired by the golden age of cinema. Music plays a large part in his filmography. His 2016 musical masterpiece ‘LaLa Land’ was an ode to a bygone period of Hollywood, showing the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but also the struggles that come with this success. Babylon is a vastly different take on a similar era of Hollywood. Chazelle’s choice to focus on the seedier side of Hollywood and the previously mentioned Golden handcuffs that comes with the territory, is inspired and a breath of fresh air. Similar character tropes and narrative elements have been used before, most recently in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 modern masterpiece ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ also delved into the idea of an ageing movie star, set to the backdrop of 1960s Hollywood, with directorial flair from this era of Hollywood as well. Babylon twists these ideas in a unique and wholly original way. I admire that Chazelle takes this approach, as it adds to the world set-up in this particular film. It is an exaggerated version of the Hollywood we know, but the way these characters' stories all play out feels very real. I really admire this approach as its completely different to anything we have seen before.

The cast are all wonderful here, with Margot Robbie delivering, what I believe to be, a career best performance as Nelly LaRoy. Her character goes through a lot during the film's runtime. A rise, a fall and then falling even further. Brad Pitt shines as well as the charming Jack Conrad, also having to showcase a range of different emotions and stages of someone in the midst of a downfall. Pitt also has to play a genuinely unlikeable character in Jack Conrad as well, which is against type for the veteran actor. I found this choice to be bold and I always love an actor who is fine with taking a chance on such an oddball screenplay. Tobey Maguire also shows up for a very brief role in Babylon’s third act, as a prominent figure in the seedy underbelly of Hollywood. His brief appearance is thoroughly entertaining, and quite eerie, as the story progresses to this point, we really do see a complete shift in tone to a darker, more sinister place. Maguire perfectly encapsulates this persona, embodying a truly terrifying figure. The real standout in this film though is relative newcomer Diego Calva who plays Manny. He is essentially the main character of this story, having to share screen time with two of the best performers working in Hollywood today Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt and he does this oh so well. His hopeless optimism that starts the film, leading to his eventual hubris is handled with poise and care. He is an audience surrogate for this weird and wonderful world and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him on screen. I look forward to seeing him in other roles of this calibre down the road.

‘Babylon’ is one of the strangest films I have seen in quite some time, but I honestly loved it. It has its issues sure, but you can’t deny its ambition and the craft in putting such a large and at times lofty project together. I ask that any fan of cinema in whatever form, check this one out, it did not get the appreciation it deserves in cinemas. Babylon is now available on both DVD and 2-disc special edition Blu-Ray. Be sure to pick-up your copy today from Sanity here

Christopher Pattison from Oz Movie Geek wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here