The La La Land director outdoes himself with this exceptional 1920s Hollywood epic
Movies about movies are a particularly fascinating breed of film. They can be used to say something about a specific period of time (Prano Bailey-Bond’s excellent horror flick Censor), be turned into a beautifully personal piece of filmmaking about the effect of the film form itself (Steven Spielberg’s gorgeous The Fabelmans), or be a total misfire on basically every front (Sam Mendes’ wildly misjudged Empire of Light). And then there’s Babylon.
Concerned not just with the art of filmmaking itself, nor solely with early Hollywood, Damien Chazelle’s Babylon is a depraved descent into sex, drugs, booze, violence and chaos, an absolute feast for the senses and easily the best film of this past awards season – and it’s finally yours to own at home.
Following a group of Hollywood players as the industry transitions from silent films to talkies in the late 1920s, Babylon is nothing short of exceptional. It’s a stunning piece of work, born out of adoration for the artform and disdain for the filmmaking business – it’s funny, it’s moving, it’s scary at times and heartbreaking at others, an epic in every sense of the word. And it will never sit right with me that The Whale somehow won more Oscars…
But what is it that makes Babylon so good? The cast, for one. It’s no secret that Margot Robbie is a powerhouse of an actor, and here she gives quite possibly her best performance yet as Nellie LaRoy, a nobody plucked out of obscurity to take on the world. Robbie bristles with hunger throughout, a yearning for fame and fortune that is ultimately Nellie’s undoing. She inhabits the role like few other actors of her generation (co-star Diego Calva describes her as “an inspiration” in one of the bonus features), signalling Nellie’s every thought, feeling and emotion with perfect intonation. She also gets to let loose in a variety of different ways – the film’s opening party is the stellar introduction to her as a character; we see her having fun and enjoying herself, loving being the centre of attention and relishing the chance she’s given to become a movie star. While this spark of enjoyment is short-lived for Nellie, Robbie is clearly having a ball whether she’s dancing, cheering, shouting, or fighting a snake – she’s perfect, and the fact she was seemingly never in conversation for accolades for her performance is outrageous.
Opposite Robbie is newcomer Diego Calva, who’s nothing short of a revelation. His Manny is the film’s emotional core, opening and closing on him at two dramatically different points of his life, and following him closely on his rise through the ranks as a studio executive and, in many ways, the face of the industry within the film. He also… isn’t a particularly good person – and this is perhaps what a lot of people miss about Babylon. If the film has an antagonist, it’s Hollywood itself. It isn’t a love letter to the industry, it’s a love letter to the form – how anyone could watch it and see it as having anything but utter disdain for the way the film industry works is beyond me. Manny sacrifices everything to make it in the movies, only for Hollywood to chew him up and spit him out without so much as a “good luck” on the way. He’s a victim, as is every other main character in the film – by its ending, if Babylon is anything, it’s a tragedy. Calva is yet another who should have been in the awards conversation, and I, for one, can’t wait to see what he does next.
The supporting roles go to the stellar trio of Li Jun Li, Jovan Adepo and Jean Smart as a title-writer, a trumpet player and a critic, respectively – all three are terrific. Dressed head-to-toe in gorgeousness courtesy of costume designer Mary Zophres, they both look the part and act it. Smart is as exceptional as we’ve come to expect from her, while Li and Adepo both have great things ahead of them – if Hollywood is smart enough to capitalise on their talent.
It'd be remiss of me to spend this long talking about Babylon without mentioning its ethereal score, from regular Chazelle collaborator Justin Hurwitz. His aim with the score was to do something different that people hadn’t heard before and didn’t expect (Chazelle notes in a featurette on the bonus features that our understanding of the music of the time is limited by what was recorded, which was a sliver of what was actually being played), so Hurwitz takes this as his cue to go completely off the rails in the best, most musically satisfying way possible. It’s the trumpet that really shines here – I lost count of the number of times Linus Sandgren’s camera pushed in on Adepo’s character in the middle of a solo, and I couldn’t have been happier. There’s such a wealth of emotion in the score – from adulation to adoration, stress and anxiousness to outright terror and heartbreak. It’s truly a score for the ages.
The audacity involved in making a film like this is truly staggering. To take $80m from a major studio and turn it into this? It’s almost unbelievable. Thankfully, the home release of Babylon comes with a whole disc of bonus features to go behind the scenes, chief among which is a 30-minute documentary that covers everything from the context in which the film is set to the actors and characters to the costumes to the gorgeous locations used for shooting – it’s a terrific watch. Elsewhere are two three-minute featurettes about the costumes and score – these are fine, but feel a little “made for YouTube.” Rounding out the disc is a handful of deleted and extended scenes. These are always an interesting watch, as it’s fascinating to see what didn’t make the final cut. While it’s easy to see why some were left out, two in particular stand out: one of Li Jun Li’s Lady Fay writing titles for Nellie’s first movie, which isn’t essential but gives Li a little more play, which is nice; and one of an extended argument between Manny and Nellie, which is absolutely terrific. It was probably cut for time (after all, the finished film is well over the three-hour mark), but it feels like an important character moment for both of them, and Calva shows a sinister side to Manny we don’t see too much of elsewhere in the film. It’s a shame this one got left out.
In all honesty, I’d recommend the home release even if there weren’t any extras. Not only is it a sensational film, but it’s a terrific presentation: the 4K transfer makes Linus Sandgren’s anamorphic 35mm look as gorgeous as it could, while the colours pop beautifully and Hurwitz’s score sounds stunning on the Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
Until very recently (thanks to a certain Mr Wick), Babylon was my favourite film of the year – and I’ll be amazed if it’s anywhere other than my top five by year’s end. It’s nothing less than a sensation: a dazzling piece of filmmaking that hooks you right from its first long-take and doesn’t let you go until well after the credits have rolled. It’ll lift you up and break your heart all at once, and I can’t really believe it exists. We’re very, very lucky to have movies like this.
If you put a gun to my head, I’d probably tell you that La La Land is my all-time favourite film… but Babylon? Babylon might just be Damien Chazelle’s masterpiece.
Babylon is available to Download & Keep now and on DVD, Blu-ray™ & 4K UHD from 3rd April.
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