#MovieReview: The most brazen movie in a decade, Babylon [Watch]

Babylon is an orgiastic, riotous look at the birth of Hollywood with a scope that ultimately extends further than its reach.

Bold, boisterous and over three hours long, this is truly a movie that feels like an epic on the scale of Ben Hur or Cleopatra, whose ambition became part of their legacy.

Babylon, directed by Damien Chazelle (Whiplash; La La Land) is as brazen a mainstream outing as any in the past decade, reaching back across a century of cinema to try and comment on the modern movie industry.

It is a perfect example of ‘how did this get made’, and if for nothing else, it is deserving of legitimate respect for style points and chutzpah.

Among those worthy of praise is perhaps the only true remaining movie star, Margot Robbie, whose character Nelly LaRoy is tracked from silent-film stardom to talkie obscurity.

As LaRoy, Robbie is at times enchanting and mesmerising, but never shies away from showing the dark, ugly underbelly of the character.

She can then go and star in a pulpy superhero movie without an ounce of cynicism and no one blinks an eye; it’s real movie stardom in the vein of Jack Nicholson or Paul Newman.

But as committed and excellent as she is in Babylon, the film’s uneven and unrelenting tone are hard to keep up with for such a protracted viewing time.
Spoilers to follow

Babylon follows a host of characters at the infancy of Hollywood, including LaRoy, director Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) and film lover turned studio fixer, Manny Torres (Diego Calva).

These are all outcasts who have landed in California – on the edge of a continent and at the brink of a new artform – ready to make their impact on the world.

Before Hollywood was codified into white-establishment in the 30s, it was run like a travelling carnival with people from all backgrounds joining together to pull towards something greater.

But so too did it bring libertines aplenty, with ‘morally agreeable’ behaviour in short supply as these misfits sought out misdemeanours and misdeeds in equal measure.

This feeling is captured wonderfully in a drawn out but virtuosic party sequence that takes up much of the first 30 minutes.

It sets a breakneck pace which steadily tapers off through the remaining runtime, ending in a swing at genius from Chazelle that will land with some and completely alienate most.

This is not a perfect film – it is messy and immoral and chaotic, but feels like every inch of a missed hit that will be reclaimed as a classic in 20 years.

It might also be your least favourite of the year, but that’s the risk of taking a shot at glory.

Rated 18 for scenes of violence, language and nudity.
3/5.

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