Title - Babylon
Production - Paramount Pictures, C2 Motion Picture Group, Marc Platt Productions
Starring - Diego Clava, Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Jean Smart, Li Jun Li, Jovan Adepo, Flea, Eric Roberts, P.J. Byrne, Katherine Waterston, Max Minghella, Toby Maguire, Olivia Hamilton, Olivia Wilde
Writer - Damien Chazelle
Director - Damien Chazelle
Release - 23 December 2022
Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz seemed to have reused some of the musical beats from La La Land, with at least 2 scores immediately transported me back to Chazelle's previous hit. But with the subject matter of Babylon, it may have been a very calculated move.
I'm quite surprised at how little the Academy thought of Babylon. This has Oscars written all over it, but was completely shut out of the main categories - instead picking up 3 technical nominations including Original Score for Justin Hurwitz. Not that anyone would have won in the acting categories and this movie was an obvious step down from La La Land.
Babylon was ambitious, but also unnecessary long and slightly convoluted. I wouldn't have complained about that had every scene been as engaging as its best sequences. But I'm left with wondering some scenes may not have been necessarily that long to be immersive.
Margot Robbie and Diego Clava were the two standouts as the leads, with Robbie having a legit chance to sneak into the Best Actress category (instead of what the internet has been complaining about). Jean Smart also gave a memorable performance, and I don't remember Toby Maguire being this weird and entertaining.
But the story as a whole was a love story (once again) and this time to the movie-making Hollywood. The parallels Chazelle drew from the old movies was quite a stroke of genius. Unfortunately, I thought the movie got too big for its own good. Maybe shrink it a little might make it better.
And at the end of it, I was caught a little by surprise when the story jumped years ahead because I didn't realize that was the end of that chapter.
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