It has been a long time since we have seen anything from the original and musical mind of Damien Chazelle. His last original production being in the form of La La Land, way back in 2016, he certainly made us wait. But it's more than fair to say that the wait has certainly been worth it!
Chazelle takes on a different challenge through the form of Babylon and is much less like anything he has done before. La La Land, Whiplash, First Man, they all seem alien to this Hollywood smash-hit movie.
It is clear to see that Chazelle has simply poured his heart and soul into the production of this movie, and that it has been something he has envisaged making for a very long time. Just when we thought he had produced his passion project through the form of La La Land, he simply puts Babylon on a metal plate, places it in front of us and hits us with... "How do you like that?".
There are so many overwhelming and astonishing aspects to this film, it is difficult to decide where to begin. Just as difficult as it is to decide where to look in the film.
The 30-minute opening montage at the birth of the movie is simply a masterclass in filmmaking. The lights could've come on after 30 minutes and I would have been satisfied with what I had witnessed. The whole sequence could quite simply be a whole film on its own.
Despite only being born in the 80's, Chazelle does a tremendous job of enrapturing what life was like in Hollywood back in the 1920's. When cinema looked a hell of a lot differently to what it does today.
If viewers, at any point, had any curiosity as to what went on behind closed doors at parties in LA in the early 1900's. All they have to do is watch this movie as Chazelle allows us to be a fly on the wall inside one of these said parties that can only be described as a rush of exhilaration and aggressively graphic.
Not only does this accurate representation of Hollywood perform for the first 30 minutes, be it manages to keep a strong level of consistency throughout the entirety of the film. Which is impressive considering nobody on the set of Babylon was born during that period of time.
Margot Robbie and Diego Calva lead this all-star cast with two very strong performances. Robbie, the talented and sexy actress that comes from a rough background, who is welcomed into fame after the first quarter of the movie. And Calva, a talented Spaniard living in Hollywood who has dreams of making it into the film industry, until one day he gets his chance.
It has been said that Mr Brad Pitt does a poor job of playing a character that has so many similarities to himself: washed up actor taking pointless roles to prolong his boring career. Whereas I actually feel that Pitt does a brilliant job in this role at portraying so many emotions and at various points throughout the film, allows the audience to really feel remorseful towards the character and share the pain that he is going through, with him.
There is more than enough to write about the acting and plot that lies within this film, but one thing that can't be spoken about enough is the production design. The production design is the backbone of this movie and the crew behind this do an amazing job of enrapturing what Hollywood was like back in the 20's. From the parties, to the film sets, to the production studios. Everything looks and seems exactly as you would imagine it would have back then.
One negative aspect about this movie that must be mentioned before I go on any further is the disturbing run time of this film. At 182 minutes, the film forces audiences to stay seated for just over three hours. Which for causal moviegoers that aren't overly passionate about the medium, can be seen as a major red flag.
Regardless of this, I didn't seem to see this as a problem. If anything, it seemed to fuel my want to go and see this movie even more. And the fact that you are intrigued into watching an expertly crafted storyline unfold, seems to remove any idea of a long run time altogether and make the time fly by.
If at any point throughout this movie, audiences were not impressed with Chazelle's work of art... they are destined to be come the final 15 minutes of the film.
Audiences are provided with the privilege of seeing a once-in-a-lifetime experience of Chazelle's true handwritten love letter to cinema that refuses to leave cinemagoers with any emotion other than blown away.
It is quite simply inspiring how Chazelle manages to move the audience in a cinematic atmosphere that they may have not ever felt before, and may never feel again.
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