Babylon

First things first, I am a HUGE Chazelle fan. I saw Whiplash when I was probably too young, and I will never ever forget seeing the beauty of La La Land for the first time in cinemas (fun fact: La La Land is one of the very few movies to still make me cry even on my billionth re-watch). So, naturally I was very excited to see what he would bring us next and when I heard those initial reviews for Babylon I was very surprised to see just how divisive it was. Some people claimed to absolutely loathe it yet some people claimed it was the best movie of the awards season. I even saw some reviews saying that it felt like the last movie ever made. 

“But what does that even mean? How could it possibly feel like that?” I wondered as I walked into my screening of the film. “A movie can’t possibly feel like that, can it?” 

Yes. Yes it can. 

Don’t believe the hate, Babylon is a cocaine-fuelled, nightmarish, delirious, head-spinning thrill ride and I personally believe it is one of the greatest films of the 21st century. 

From the 30-minute opening party to the balls-to-the-wall insane ending, I loved every second of Damien Chazelle’s love letter to movies (which also somehow doubles as a hate letter to Hollywood). 

So, because I can’t really construct a cohesive review about how much I love this movie, I thought I’d spice things up and instead go through some popular criticisms of the film I’ve seen online since the movie's release and try to give my counter-points. 

“UGH. It’s so long!” 

Yes. It is long. At just over 3 hours, Babylon is Chazelle’s longest film yet. But it’s supposed to be that long. It needed to be that long. It’s an epic! It is the epic of epics. How are you going to convey all the ideas he wanted to showcase (and have them stick with you) in under three hours? Maybe there’s a way to do that, but I feel like a lot of the impact would be lost if it wasn’t as long as it was. Also, so what it’s three hours? You’re telling me you would’ve cut the snake scene? Come on, don’t be ridiculous. 

“It’s not subtle!” 

Is that a bad thing? Sure subtlety is nice and shoving an idea in our faces is not so nice, but I don't think Babylon does the latter. If you’re familiar with Chazelle’s writing, you know that he never leaves us with answers, only questions. Whiplash ends with you wondering whether Andrew has finally achieved everything he’s ever wanted or whether he’s just played right into the hands of the vile Fletcher, without him even realising it. Babylon does the same (but we’ll talk more about the ending later). It’s not persuading us to think one thing or another, it offers us questions which lead us to ponder the subject matter. But yes, it’s not subtle. But would you expect a movie about movies (let alone one of this style) to be subtle? 

“It’s gross!” 

Grass is green. What of it?. 

“That ending was beyond stupid.” 

Okay, I can’t avoid talking about this any longer. 

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT. 

I feel like most people’s view of this movie can be boiled down to what they thought of the ending. I’ve seen critics say that it didn’t land because it was laughable and cheesy. But, as previously stated, I personally adored the ending. Mainly because of how risky it was. Seriously, I was actually stunned that the studio let Chazelle get away with this. And I think this is where the whole “last movie ever made” thing comes into play. People have said that the ending was just clips from other movies and that it completely ignores the previous 3 hours! And, I respectfully disagree. Like I said earlier, Chazelle likes to leave us with questions. Yes, the ending does create something of a paradox, but that’s entirely the point. It is perfectly paradoxical. Can Hollywood be redeemed by cinema? Who knows? But that’s not for Chazelle to decide. To quote Jean Smart’s character, “it’s bigger than you”. 

Also, I entirely disagree with the notion that the montage is soulless. I think people forget that more than half of the montage is not made up of movie clips and instead made up of  images of developing celluloid and straight up just flashing colours. Chazelle said that the idea for the end of the montage was to revert film back to its most basic elements: lights and sound. Which is a crazy yet beautiful idea that perfectly lends itself to the ideas the film puts across about why we love cinema so much. The montage then flashes images of the main four characters from the film, which should debunk any thoughts people have about this montage forgetting about what’s come before. Say what you want about the rest of the movie, but the ending does not forget the characters. And just when you think the montage couldn’t get any crazier, they show footage of the clapperboard for THIS VERY MOVIE. Which, I actually didn’t notice until I watched the montage online, where I was able to slow it down and notice all the details. But seriously, meta as all hell. I love it.