‘Babylon’ Non-Spoiler Review – Damien Chazelle’s Epic Deserves To Be Witnessed By All

With Babylon, writer/director Damien Chazelle proves that he is not only one of the greatest filmmakers working today, but also one of the greatest storytellers working today. Dare I call him his generation’s Martin Scorsese?

His past films have shown his prowess in each of their genres. With Babylon, he proves that he can craft almost any type of story, and most importantly, pull it off each time. His debut, a film that also served as his senior thesis in college (with regular contributor and composer of all his films, Justin Hurwitz), Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, was a solid film. It has a few minor cracks, but overall it works for the film Chazelle wanted to create.

His follow-up, the film he got made to make his passion project, Whiplash, was my favorite of his until Babylon. Whiplash is a stunning film, mostly due to Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons’ chemistry, and does the job he needs it to perfection.

Chazelle’s passion project La La Land (also my favorite of his now), is a magnificent film as well. It takes a hell of a lot to make me even tear up watching something, and La La Land did in the most unexpected and satisfying way. The last twenty minutes are perhaps the best twenty minutes of film from any released in 2016. The moment when Seb (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) notice each other at his club, and what little moments follow, is just amazing.

Thankfully, Babylon has some of the same elements and conjures the same emotions in its last moments as well. Basically, what I’m saying is that Chazelle’s films deserve to be seen by all, even if the first few sequences turn off the common moviegoer, those who truly understand what I’m saying, get it. So go watch Babylon, then read the rest of this review.

Minor spoilers to follow.

Plot Discussion

First of all, the term “plot” is typically the way in which events are presented on screen, while the “story” is the actual meat of the movie. These terms are used interchangeably all the time, which isn’t bad at all. However, there is a technical difference, and I feel for this review, that must be made known.

The plot of Babylon is fairly simple at face value. It chronicles the rise and fall of several characters during Hollywood’s transition into sound films and the debauchery that follows. The actual story of this film begins in 1926 (the first sound film, or “talkies” as they were commonly referred, was 1927’s The Jazz Singer) and ends in 1952, which makes more sense in retrospect when you look at the film’s length (189m). However, the story is much more than the plot lets you know.

The film jumps around with dates, and while I say that, it doesn’t jump back and forth. Rather the film starts in 1926, then to 1927 and 1928, but skips 1929 entirely, which I initially thought would hurt the film for what Chazelle was trying to craft, but alas, I was mistaken, because that worry can be thrown out entirely in the grand scheme of things. In retrospect, it actually helps the film more than it hurts it.

By 1932, the audience can tell that Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), a silent film star, is essentially through with Hollywood. Although, he is doing whatever he can to stay relevant, and continues taking low-budget studio films for the money they pay. Deep down, Jack hates everything he’s done since the silent film days. Charlie Chaplin was perhaps the best actor to take control of his career and continued his stardom in sound films, a feat that was supremely hard for silent film stars in real life.

The film feels like a dramedy mostly, yet a few scenes feel like a low-budget horror film, even thriller-esque. Babylon does a great job at showing a few things: the biggest is the huge challenge that it was to shoot these “talkies,” and the annoyances that came with sound. The challenge that was and still is with being a “star” and the sometimes cut-throat world of Hollywood. Lastly, perhaps the best element of the entire film and its message is the power of cinema and the sheer back-breaking work of making a film, either silent or sound.

Some Highlights in Babylon

One of the best scenes in the whole film is when Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) is attempting to make her first sound film. As most know, they shot everything on sound stages in the early days, and it was the biggest pain in the rear to change how the sound would pick up the actors, etcetera. For example, it could take up to thirty minutes to reset the mic where the director wants the sound picked up.

During this scene, it eventually takes eight different takes for Nellie to get the scene right, and only a few mistakes are due to her. Most of the mishaps come from the challenge it was to shoot with sound in these times. After mistake and mistake by anyone and everyone, the assistant director, Max (P.J. Byrne), goes off and lets off a triad of cuss words in his anger, rightfully so. The crew had to reset several times because of things like just a door being opened that picked up in the take so they have to do it all over again. This scene had me seriously rolling in the theatre, tears and all. It came on screen unexpectedly and was just fantastic.

Another fantastic scene comes toward the climax of the film. One could argue there are several climaxes in the first two acts alone, but I digress. Prior to this scene, Jack has seen a cover story by journalist Elinor St. John (Jean Smart), and is already very annoyed with the studio since he couldn’t reach Irving Thalberg (Max Minghella) by phone forcing him to drive to the studio, and it’s there he spots this cover story by St. John about his declining popularity. So Jack decides to pay a visit to Elinor. She actually gives him a great answer in the form of a monologue, which I surprisingly never grew tired of in this film being that monologues are in almost every other scene.

Basically what she tells Jack is this: he should be lucky that he made a huge name for himself in Hollywood’s early days. He should be thankful that prior to his arrival in Hollywood, as he says “every store had a sign that said no dogs and actors allowed, [he] changed that.” He made his mark on the film business, and unfortunately, like everything, his time has passed and there’s nothing no one can do to bring it back. She also tells him that this applies to literally everyone. Elinor herself will be replaced with the next up-and-coming journalist, and ultimately, like Elinor already has, Jack needs to make peace with that fact. Moreover, being that he was a silent film star, in some way he will live forever.

She makes a great anecdote about the best actors and actresses that are now long gone: they will never truly die basically. Whenever “[some random kid] puts your film reel in, you are back where you belong.” And through that fact, that random kid could be inspired to make films, and that fact in and of itself is perhaps the film’s absolute best quality. Films, and every single person involved, will, in some way, live forever until the end of time.

I had no absolute idea who Humphrey Bogart was until I watched Casablanca in my intro to film class and he was already long dead when I did so, but that’s the magic of film, isn’t it? I seek out Bogart films like a shark needs to keep swimming to even breathe, and in that sense, Bogart lives forever. It’s just magnificent.

The Finale

The ending took me by surprise more than anything else did, except maybe that sound shooting scene described above. It’s 1952 and Manuel “Manny” Torres (Diego Calva) has since left the film industry and his dreams behind. He had to leave Hollywood due to unforeseen events caused by Nellie and made his way to New York, where he opened a radio store and is just a simple retail worker now. Manny and his new family are on vacation in Los Angeles and he wanted to show his wife and young daughter where he used to work, Kinoscope Studios.

Eventually, his wife and daughter depart to the hotel room while Manny continues his walk around town and makes his way into a showing of the classic Singin’ in the Rain. Several of the sequences playing out on Manny’s screen, he was a witness to himself and realizing he even worked on some of them, euphoria suddenly sets over Manny.

That moment also gave me euphoria because Chazelle sticks in a montage right here. The montage features some of cinema’s greatest on-screen achievements: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark, to name a few. I also caught a shot from James Cameron’s Avatar. Immediately proceeding these shots is the chemical reactions that happen when one captures a shot on a film camera and the screen bursts with stunning colorful effects. These small reactions leave a lasting impact on the fools who dream (get my reference?), and ultimately a legacy that any film-goer can see.

At the end of it all, as Manny realizes that he truly did leave a mark on cinema, he smiles as he begins to cry, and the screen does a quick fade to black: leaving nothing but pure, absolute bliss remaining. I smiled as the credits rolled and felt like this everlasting bliss would carry on forever.

Cast & Crew of Babylon

Damien Chazelle is nothing short of a genius in the world of film. Babylon proves wholeheartedly that he can make any type of film he wants, and Paramount sees that being that he just signed a first-look deal with them. This film was everything I could have possibly wanted from Chazelle’s body of work. It also works tremendously better for him being that he’s worked with the same editor, Tom Cross, and composer, Justin Hurwitz, on his last three films and they’re here again. Linus Sandgren has served as Chazelle’s cinematographer since La La Land and First Man, returning again here; Whiplash had a different cinematographer.

The one-take might be Chazelle’s favorite type of shot. It could be said that it is somewhat overused in Babylon, but it never really bothered me being one of my favorite types of shots. The opening sequence is massive and totally entertaining, pulling the audience right into the debauchery of Chazelle’s epic. It’s fantastic to see Sandgren and Chazelle’s handy work of the camera executed so brilliantly, and if you look well enough, you’ll notice the sheer chaos of the set pieces during certain sequences. Two characters could be having a small conversation, meanwhile behind them is someone running around because they have a snake wrapped tightly into their neck and can’t help but panic. The chaos is mass and frankly, it works perfectly.

The cast makes this story work so much better than at face value. Led by Diego Calva, Margot Robbie, and Brad Pitt, each cast member does their job fantastically and some make themselves their own star of the movie in certain small scenes.

Tobey Maguire is great as a mob boss here. His character, James McKay, is only featured for about twenty minutes, but it’s one of the more crazy sequences of the whole film and also takes the audience by surprise. His character acts as the final reckoning for Calva’s Manny and made me chuckle, but also creeped me the hell out, like a cross between Tony Soprano and Jim Jones.

Jovan Adepo as Sidney Palmer was another favorite supporting cast member. Once Sidney realizes he is really nothing more than a mere attraction for white people to gawk at when he plays, he cuts ties with Kinoscope and returns to what is assumed as his hometown. It’s another stark reminder of the racist history of being a “star” in those times.

Li Jun Li as Lady Fay Zhu was also great. At one point her character works as a writer for intertitles of silent films, and it was nice to have a sequence shown of Fay working on the intertitles because it is all important.

Spike Jonze was unexpectedly terrific in his short time in the film as well. His character, a nameless German film director working in Hollywood who is shooting a film with Jack, freaks out several times in his short screen presence and shows the intensity that a lot of European directors brought over here during this time period. I immediately thought of Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau, or some kind of composite for Jonze’s character.

Jeff Garlin and Flea are also awesome to see on screen. Flea is featured more than Garlin but they both do their job perfectly. P.J. Byrne as the assistant director Max steals the sound shooting scene by far and was more hilarious than anything I’ve seen him do. The rest of the cast is fantastic as well and somehow every little piece of Chazelle’s writing worked for the characters he wanted to present on the screen and each bounced off the other very nicely.

Justin Hurwitz is on par to be the next Hans Zimmer or John Williams. Within the score for Babylon, there are small little notes and sprinkles of La La Land‘s score withered throughout, it’s just terrific. The scores tend to add the extra humph that many films need. Most of the time they go unnoticed by the common movie-goer, but if you really pay attention, they’re integral to capturing the emotion the director wants you to feel. That’s exactly what Chazelle and Hurwitz do, once again, with Babylon. I love that they managed to squeeze in some pieces of La La Land because it just adds so much more to both films. It’s truly magnificent. Damien Chazelle you schemer, you!

Final Thoughts

I could give this film praise over and over again, but this much I wanted to be stressed more than anything else I have written here: go and see this film now! I would recommend this film to a roommate who only watches anything Marvel and DC churn out.

Babylon is very much like another 2022 release that also captivated me: The Fabelmans. The latter is a semi-autobiographical film about the power of cinema directed and co-written by the cinema mastermind Steven Spielberg. The movies are truly back! 2021 was a promising return for many but this year only proves that they’re here to stay, thankfully. Looking ahead to next year, I am only much more excited for many releases of hopefully brilliant films.

While I was supremely impressed by this film, La La Land, for now, is my favorite Chazelle film, followed by Babylon, Whiplash, First Man, and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. Very much looking forward to what he does next.

If Babylon proved that Chazelle is a powerhouse storyteller, then his next film should knock this one right out. I didn’t expect to be as blown away as I was, but damn that was tremendous. Everything worked fantastically, from the blocking, framing, and camerawork, down to the editing and composition of the whole film. Babylon deserves to be seen by all, full stop. Outstanding, terrific, amazing, need I say more? Just go to the theatre!

5/5 stars.

Babylon is playing in theatres everywhere right now!

Were you as utterly blown away as me? For more reviews of all the latest films, and our Top Ten of 2022, keep it right here with The Cinema Spot!