Babylon (Film)
Be aware that this film is over three hours long. But at a local screening of the film last month, I didn’t go to the bathroom once, didn’t get bored once, and didn’t look at my watch once (though after two hours I did get a glimpse of the watch of the person in the row below me). ‘Babylon’ is not a boring film. From beginning to end it will hold your attention with the story about the debauchery and desperation of wannabe actors in Hollywood in the 1920’s.Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) and Manny Torres (Diego Calva) are hungry to be famous, with Nellie having the looks (and curves) to get ahead, quicker and easier, while Manny has the brains to get ahead.
The opening shots in the film introduce both their characters in a large mansion on the outskirts of Hollywood where anything and everything is happening: people dancing, coupling, intertwined with each other, drugs, half dressed and some not dressed at all, drinking, one large elephant – it’s a bacchanalia of excess. It’s a lot to take in and immediately hooks you into the film.
Nellie and Manny have two very different journeys on their paths. Nellie, who was spotted at the party, is plucked to star in a film, and nails it, while at the same time meets washed up actor Jack Lord (a fabulous Brad Pitt who seems to find roles that match his looks and skills – he is getting better and better with age). Nellie soon has her dreams come true and is chosen and contracted to star in a string of films.
Meanwhile, Manny carries a torch for Nellie, and she knows that, but his fantasy to be with her never really comes to fruition. While Nellie makes all the wrong decisions in her career, and meets all the wrong people to boot, and at the same time Jack’s career seems to be fading, while Manny starts becoming disillusioned with it all. Such is life in Hollywood, the ups and the downs and the downs.
Damien Chazelle, who brought us ‘La La Land’ in 2018, copies it’s formula in this film that, as mentioned above, is never dull and never boring. And while it’s not the best of films, it is definitely entertaining, and isn’t that what Hollywood is all about?
