OSCARS 2023: Babylon (2022)

I suppose some folks can't wait to see a golden boy fail. When Damien Chazelle broke through with “Whiplash,” he was an indie favorite and a beloved talent. By the time he became a Best Director winner for “La La Land,” a lot of people had decided they hated this guy. Whether you thought “La La Land” was simply overrated or some sort of hate crime, the movie had its detractors. I wasn't one of them. I've thought all of the Chazelle's films have been really good so far. Yet a lot of people were seemingly rooting for “Babylon,” his three-hour ode to/autopsy of Hollywood's golden age, to fail. They got their wish, as the film was one of 2022's biggest flops. While it managed to grab three Academy Award nominations, it still largely polarized critics. Now the time has come for me to declare whether my status as a Chazelle fanboy holds true or if I get to take up shelter with the haters.

In 1926, silent movie superstar Jack Conrad is throwing another one of his wild parties at his Los Angeles mansion. Day laborer Manuel Torres has been recruited to transport an elephant to the party. After the bacchanal is in full swing – powered by the hot jazz of Sidney Palmer and his band – Manuel meets Nellie LaRoy, a wannabe who sneaks into the party. An actress overdosing, and Nellie's wild dancing, gets her chosen for a small role on a film set the next day. Manuel, who Jack has taken a shine to, manages to grab a camera just in time to save a shot. Nellie, meanwhile, impresses with her ability to cry on command. Soon, Nellie LaRoy is the hottest new star in Hollywood and Manuel Torres is working his way up the studio ladder. Yet, as the silent era gives way to the advent of sound and the Roarin' Twenties birth the Production Code Thirties, careers nose-dive and stars fade.

When “Babylon” was in production, people kept referring to it as a love letter to the silent age of movie making. This is still somewhat true but don't think that means “Babylon” is a stately, nostalgic homage. Chazelle announces his intentions early on, when he has an elephant defecate on someone. The next scene features a fat, naked guy being urinated on. Before “Babylon” is over, it features prominent roles for just about all the major bodily fluids. The film paints a clear picture of the depravity of Hollywood's wild west era. Drug use is rampant. Sex happens at the drop of a hat. It's a time of freedom, as the crazy environment allows Sidney and his black band mates a place of employment and allows Lady Fa Zhu – a friend of Jack's – to be openly bisexual. It comes with a cost too. More than one person dies, and is then carted away without a care, during different productions. Gangsters are allowed free reign. Chazelle clearly isn't looking back at the twenties through rose-colored glasses.

As much as “Babylon” is an unvarnished look at this time and place in Hollywood history, Chazelle is still informed by a love of cinema. The sequence where Manuel races back to the film shot with a camera allows an unhinged director to get his perfect shot... And it's amazing, the chaos coming to a pause long enough for something totally pure to take shape. It's an almost orgasmic release, all the stress and pain and blood and insanity being worth it to make something that will live forever. This point is emphasized in the scene where Jack, his star on the wane, has a talk with a gossip columnist. She makes the point that his time is over but his movies will live on. “Babylon” concludes with a tear-strewn montage that celebrates the artform of filmmaking, showing that Chazelle is totally sincere. No matter how much puke and shit and blood “Babylon” throws around, it believes that movies are magic and being a part of the process is worth it all.

Whether you will find Chazelle's arguments for filmmaking's status as a beautiful, transcendent art form meaningful or trite depends on your taste, I suppose. I'm a sucker for stories about the magic of the movies, so “Babylon” worked for me. The second half of this three hour long epic follows a largely expected path. Despite being an early proponent for the innovation of sound, Jack's career can't survive the transition to talkies. Nellie LaRoy is the toast of the town for a while but her hard-partying lifestyle is impossible to sustain and the hits eventually run out. Sidney's friendship with Manuel is strained by the racial boundaries of the time. L.A. chews people up and spits them out. You're on top one day and down the next. The public is fickle and their taste varies wildly from week to week. None of these are new observations. 

“Babylon” may not earn points for creativity. Nor does it balance all its subplots especially well. Sidney and Lady Fa Zhu just slowly fade from the movie, while jack's story comes to an abrupt end. Yet Chazelle still knows how to engineer a show-stopping set piece. “Babylon” is full of impressive cinematography, with multiple long takes where the camera winds through crowds and corridors. The opening act at the party is a stunning display of sexual depravity, with the twitchy energy of a cocaine high. A battle scene being shot out in the desert escalates into a brilliant piece of physical comedy. A sequence that begins with Nellie riding a shirtless polo team into a party and ends with a rattlesnake fight is phenomenally entertaining. An attempt by a film crew to adapt to shooting with sound is a nervous, profane comedy of errors. 

Even in its last third, “Babylon” is still knocking it out of the park. A visit to a gangster, played by a puffy-faced and surprisingly frightening Tobey Maguire, becomes a descent into Hell at an otherwordly sex dungeon. Maguire is just the most unexpected member of a cast that truly gives it their all. Margot Robbie makes it clear why she's a movie star as Nellie, a voracious ball of energy that you can't take your eyes off of. Brad Pitt, clearly riffing on his own career some, brings an increasingly melancholy to Jack. Li Jun Li is magnetic as Fay Zhu, while Diego Calva makes a compelling hero as Manuel, a man trying desperately to hold onto his heart in a ruthless system. That just accounts for the main players, as there's notable small roles for performers as varied as an expertly deployed Eric Roberts, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde, and Flea. 

I can definitely see why “Babylon” rubbed some people the wrong way. It's mixture of bodily fluids, rise-and-fall/price-of-fame clichés, and celebration of movie making isn't going to appeal to everyone. I, however, am impressed simply by Chazelle and his team's display of skills. A pounding musical score and a frequently energetic shooting style makes the three-hour runtime sail by. The film is full of unforgettable images and sequences, with plenty of heart, strong performances, and a frequently surprising sick sense of humor. It's not as good as “Whiplash,” “La La Land,” or even “First Man.” But it is a worthy motion picture in its own right. If this one's box office failure gets Chazelle put in director's jail, that would be a shame. I think it's one that will be primed for rediscovery in a few years. [7/10]