Sam’s Take – This week Sam looks at the latest from award winning director Damien Chazelle, Babylon.
Following an ensemble cast, the story chronicles the rise and fall of characters during Hollywood’s transition from silent to sound films during the 1920s.
Diego Calva is Manny, a Mexican-American film assistant who yearns to have a larger role within the film industry, Margot Robbie is Nellie LaRoy, an aspiring actress and Manny’s love interest, and Brad Pitt is Jack Conrad, a silent film star struggling to break into the talkies.
The technical team has done an immense job. Grand sets replicate the early Hollywood era and the state of excess during the party scenes. Cinematography by Linus Sandgren has sweeping angles that take you through every space. It attacks your senses with the speed of the camera mixed with a galloping score by Justin Hurwitz.
Diego Calva’s Manny has a soulful authenticity, his emotion bursts out of him in every scene. His chemistry with Robbie is wonderful, the pair really give it their all in both mania and sincerity.
And Robbie herself is doing what she does best, off the leash and ripping apart every scene she’s in. She has believable range and control as Nellie, many times we see her boil over in such a nuanced way.
It all feels so magical at times, showcasing the craft of movies and the passion of these characters to make them which is endearing and entertaining but not much happens.
It is more of a love letter to the history of Hollywood in a bit of a jumbled way. It seemingly wants to be both a big jaunty look into the early Hollywood scene and a character study.
At three hours long there’s a fair number of unnecessary parts, like Tobey Maguire’s role which is irrelevant.
It’s an engaging romp that drew me in with the characters and the setting of it all but again I am left wondering, for what? The setting of early Hollywood is presented as manic and seedy but it also feels like we’re supposed to romanticise it. The movie doesn’t really know what it wants to be.
To sum up, I guess I did enjoy this. It’s an absolute feast visually and technically, and cinephiles will find something to take away. The excess the film depicts collapses in on itself a bit when it comes to the various story elements, with the committed performances suffering slightly because of it.
It’s a mild recommendation from me, but this isn’t going to be for everyone.
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