Babylon

Explosive in places, but mostly unnecessarily theatrical, hectic and extremely long. Chazelle is recognizable thanks to the musical interludes, which are imaginary mini-peaks of the film. An ode to old Hollywood that has its positive moments, especially on the technical side. Starting with fantastic cinematography, impressive production design and good music. But watching this coked-up wilderness for 190 minutes requires a great deal of patience. Most of the dialogue passages oscillate somewhere between a selection of Tarantino and Scorsese, but never getting it right. A bold, unusual but hard to digest film. (10/03/2023)

Babylon is a subjectively irrelevant and aesthetically disjointed depiction of early Hollywood with hackneyed (Brad Pitt), uninteresting (Diego Calva) and annoying (Margot Robbie) lead characters. Chazelle overshot the mark. If it weren’t for the accompanying jazz interludes, you wouldn’t even recognize him in this. The wild parties and scenes of hectic filmmaking are entertaining, but you can sense the strong theatricality in them. The scene of filming on the first soundstage is the best of the whole film, both in its execution and cinephilic dimension. But as soon as the overly long runtime veers into into a fatalistic lament over the inability to go along with progress, it gradually goes downhill, all the way into the “LA shit hole”, i.e. the most WTF scene in the whole film. (06/03/2023)

An opulent fresco depicting the transformation of old Hollywood into new. I'm terribly sorry that I didn't catch it in the cinema, I wish I had when I think it was there for a measly week. Damien Chazelle pays deep tribute to what movies mean to people with a cynical comedy framed by weeping and mourning for the change that is the only certainty in the world. Margot Robbie is fantastic, she’s insufferable, but at the same time very genuine and worth of protection. The music is incredible, as only Chazelle and Hurwitz can deliver. (21/07/2023)

I needed some time to process Babylon. After getting home from the cinema, I had to unwind, sleep, dream some nice movie dreams (which I did), wake up, take a walk through the frosty landscape to work, and take a deep breath to fully grasp what I had witnessed. Babylon is an impressive film. It tells the story of Hollywood’s silent era through the lives of three different characters, with Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva delivering stellar performances. While Pitt and Robbie push emotional boundaries, Calva, as a newcomer, is a revelation. These three stories weave together, exploring a film era that holds a special place under the sun. The opening half-hour prologue sets the tone. The camera pans through a house party hosted by a studio mogul, showcasing pure, unfiltered decadence. You’ll wish you had more than two eyes to capture everything happening on screen. After this wild intro, the main story unfolds, diving into period Hollywood and referencing various personalities of the time. Each scene offers something new and unexpected. The film is bolstered by a fantastic score that sometimes borrows from La La Land, which I didn’t mind at all, and humor that had me in stitches. The second act turns significantly darker, leading to a finale that is a true cinematic orgasm. Witnessing the premiere was an incredible experience, and I think Babylon will resonate with me for a long time. (19/01/2023)

“Never have I seen such a maelstrom of bad taste and sheer magic.” Two feature films in one, each about something different. One is riveting, bold, frantic, brash; like a Mad Max: Fury Road of the film industry during the silent era. The other is also very good, but classic in themes and concept. It's about nostalgia for bygone times, inevitable progress and the love of cinema. Both are superb, though each in their own way. The first is an ocean liner better, for it is purely Chazelle's. The latter, for all its qualities, comes across as "merely" Chazelle's respectful homage to Sunset Blvd., Cinema Paradiso and the like. The worst thing for both films, however, is that they pretend to be one, which doesn’t help either of them. (28/05/2023)