Babylon (2022)

Oct 27

A vapid love letter to Hollywood filmmaking.

Presentation:

Damien Chazelle creates a familiar story of someone attempting to break into Hollywood or the music scene while facing all the trials and tribulations along the way. It makes you wonder if Chazelle has any other stories to tell as although has a very different style and tone, still feels like it recycles from Whiplash and La La Land especially with the prominent musical elements throughout. The movie is shot on film and anamorphic with lots of character making it difficult to discern if the frame is out of focus or just a result of the lens. The grade is dirty, overly saturated, it looks like how a YouTuber would grade one of their high contrasty travel vlogs to Japan. Story-wise, the script is all over the place going from one arc to the next with no transition. It’s like the pitch meeting was Wolf of Wall Street and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, except not nearly as funny with slapstick humor and Will Ferrell style yelling. But halfway through it kinda works when the tone begins to settle in. Everything about this film is flamboyant, excessive and vapid by design, probably alluding to and satirizing the ridiculousness of Hollywood’s sex orgies reminiscent of Eyes Wide Shut through the eyes of a pure dreamer. It oddly feels personal and anecdotal, as if the audience, main character and Chazelle see through the same eyes. What the film succeeds in doing is it allows the viewer to understand the allure of Hollywood for big-eyed naive filmmakers and all the disappointments that come with it. Hollywood can be a cesspool and the film unrelentingly mocks it accordingly. Once you realize it is not a glorification and an absurdist commentary, only then you might be able to enjoy the film. However, many of events seem like only people in the industry would understand, such as sound, behind the scenes, cinematography. It is clearly a film made for other aspiring filmmakers, but mostly for himself. Respectable, but dignity is not enough to save this film from its failures.

Conclusion:

The film is all over the place. It’s not nearly as impactful as La La Land or Whiplash especially with such a weak and uninspired ending. It almost feels meaningless and adds nothing more that what had already been accomplished in the rest of the 3 hours. The only reason we care is because Manny played by Diego Calva is the only likable and relatable character in the movie. He is the emotional anchor and the perspective of the film, but his resolution and final arc are ultimately unsatisfying. There are some chuckles along the way, but to even begin to appreciate the film you’ll have to be familiar with several aspects of film production. There is something of value in this film, the transition to sound and color are akin to progress in modern filmmaking with AI and CGI. But it’s a hard pill to swallow when you have to proceed through so much noisy garbage in order to reach it. It seems like Chazelle gave us a film he thinks we wanted to see rather than what he would. So maybe it is right on, as Hollywood writers do think audiences are as delinquent and vapid as they are. This fakeness makes itself impossible for audiences to take any sentimental feelings seriously. And that’s why this risky film flopped at the box office. A fever dream you can’t wait to wake up from.

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