Babylon

I guess I'm too old for this kind of conceptually and dramaturgically disjointed and incoherent films, where nothing works and the mess on the screen slaps you so hard that you're completely numb and tired at the end. The only thing that works a little bit is the references to old classics, but these days they can emotionally enrich you incomparably more and they only need half the running time. This looks like it wasn't even made by Damien Chazelle, but by some egomaniac who merely needed to propel himself over his supposed genius. The production design and music are top notch, the should by shat on elephant shit and flushed. (09/06/2023)

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. (03/06/2023)

The Hangover meets The Great Gatsby. A trampled reel with La La Land inserted into the projector upside down. Above all, a pure ode to the joy of cinema and at the same time the shine and misery of great actors. Every time it seemed that Babylon was taking a breath for the final act, another twist came. And another one. From stabbing joy to sadness on demand, the most positive emotions hand in hand with pain. Damien Chazelle probably got an excessive budget for the last time and used it to the last cent for a film that too few viewers saw. But in creating this, he climbed so high that it takes courage to even follow him. (02/21/2023)

“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. (05/28/2023)

Babylon is an experience. This is the kind of film you go to the cinema for, and I don't know if I'll see anything better this year. Just as good, perhaps, because I trust Oppenheimer, but hardly better. The three-hour ride through the iniquitous Hollywood of the 1920s stomps Luhrman's kitschy The Great Gatsby into the cocaine-sprinkled dance floor already in its half-hour opening, and continues to unfold in an almost Tarantino-Coen style, where every scene is perfectly written and acted, plus irresistible black humour mixed with suspense and all manner of bizarre sequences, all set to an absolutely frantic pace driven by Hurwitz's impeccable score. And the actors! Margot Robbie has never been better, Brad Pitt hasn't got such a beautiful opportunity in a long time, and the little-known Diego Calva keeps up with them just fine. I was in seventh heaven and didn't want to leave. Although film awards leave me cold at other times, I'd like to see Babylon in every single one. But what strikes me all the more is that it has not been not nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor or Actress… Hopefully at least the music will succeed, because Justin Hurwitz is simply a genius, as are the sets and the costumes. (01/28/2023)