Babylon: a movie review by Alex First
Sodom and Gomorrah might be a more appropriate title for a film all about excess and depravity.
Babylon charts Hollywood’s Golden Age and the transition from the silent era to talkies.
It does so primarily through the eyes of a bona fide star, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks intent on making it, a lowly errand boy who gets an unexpected break, a proud, shameless and talented lesbian, and an African American jazz trumpeter.
Babylon is wild and audacious and makes no apologies for being so.
The film starts in 1926.
A lowly Mexican-born worker Manny Torres (Diego Calva) is being paid to get an elephant to a sought-after Hollywood party that is to occur that night.
It is an event where debauchery is the stock in trade.
The biggest star attending is Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), who isn’t seeing eye to eye with his wife.
A gate crasher at the function is Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie). She is big on life, drugs and gambling. Torres is immediately besotted and sees she is let in.
He soon realises that the pair has a common goal, namely to make it in the film industry.
Both get their chance, although what they confront is eye-opening.
The advent of sound forever changes the dynamic, and adapting to it is far from certain.
So it is that the careers of some of Hollywood’s biggest silent-era stars and starlets came to a shuddering halt.
Conrad is sidelined, while LaRoy’s penchant for the punt and illicit substances is an increasing problem.
It is left to Torres to try to pick up the pieces, which sees him walk into a viper’s nest.
Babylon certainly leaves an indelible impression. In short, it is unforgettable.
Another recent release, Triangle of Sadness, sparked controversy with an elongated vomit sequence.
That is a walk in the park compared to some of the scenes in Babylon.
The picture is colourful and lavish (cinematography is by Sharone Meir and production design by Melanie Paizis-Jones), with a memorable score from Justin Hurwitz.
He worked with writer and director Damien Chazelle on First Man, La La Land and Whiplash.
Chazelle has clearly set out to shock with his graphic and ongoing representation of extreme behaviour.
The elongated opening night party is a case in point.
It is fast-paced and unrelenting and hits you like a freight train. So much so, that I found myself thinking, “enough already”.
But that, of course, was the whole point – to highlight over-indulgence and the consequences thereof.
I greatly appreciated the wicked humour in Babylon, which Chazelle exploits to full effect.
Margot Robbie is sensational as Nellie LaRoy, a pretty girl with a bare-bones existence and addiction issues but plenty of gumption.
She enters the fray like a whirlwind … a force of nature – reminiscent of her roles in Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey – full on, with no off valve.
There is no question that the film would be far poorer without her drive and energy.
Wide-eyed Diego Calva is LaRoy’s antithesis as Manny Torres, a man who quietly goes about his business without putting noses out of joint.
He plays an important role in the movie, which gains traction as events unfold.
Brad Pitt steps effortlessly into the persona of leading figure Jack Conrad, who has the world at his feet … until he doesn’t. There is both revelry and sadness about his characterisation.
I enjoyed Babylon more and more as it developed.
There is a decent case to be made for the film to have wrapped up earlier than it did, namely a scene in which key character Nellie LaRoy walks off into the darkness.
That would have left it open to us, the audience, to form our own conclusion about what happens to her and Manny Torres.
Regardless, Babylon left me excited and enthusiastic about what was presented on the big screen.
I found that patience was rewarded.
It is undoubtedly a bold offering which sets out to poke and prod and ultimately explode the fairy-tale myth around the Hollywood dream factory.
That it definitely succeeds in doing.
Of attraction to film buffs, I dare say Babylon’s extended running time (three hours nine minutes), and treatment of the subject matter will have limited appeal to the mass market.
Rated MA, it scores an 8½ out of 10. Running time 189 minutes.
