Why “Babylon” deserves much more success

 Hi everyone ! 

I would like to talk to you about Babylon, a movie that you probably already heard about as it was released quite recently. 

Even though it’s realized by Damien Chazelle, a great producer who also realized La La Land and Whiplash, and that it is starring great actors such as Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, it is so far not very well received by critics and audience. 

The movie is predicted to be a financial loss, as its budget is worth $80 million, which puts its profit point to $250 million worldwide, which seems difficult, or almost impossible to achieve based on its success so far. The reasons why it is considered to be a box office flop are probably due to the concurrence that the new Avatar represented at the film’s release and also to its bad advertising, as the trailer is in many ways not a good representation of the deepness of the movie and focuses rather on the theme of  debauchery. What’s more, the reviews are very divided and often include polar opposite opinions from the audience, going from describing as it the best movie of 2022 to the year’s worst failure. 

I have recently went to the cinema to watch it with my friends and I absolutely loved it, I think it’s even the best movie that I have seen in a while, which is why I was really surprised by its negative reviews. There are so many reasons for which this movie should be more appreciated and deserves more success and attention according to me, so I have decided to write this article to convince you of how great it is. Also, don’t worry I will not give any important spoiler, so you’ll be able to go and watch it afterwards. 

First of all, the general subject and the plot make it a very interesting and realistic story. It takes place in Los Angeles, and focuses on the transition from mute movies to “talkies” in Hollywood around the 1920’s. The film narrates different parallel stories. We first meet Nellie Laroy (played by Margot Robbie), a young tempestuous woman who is unexpectedly hired as an actress, and who as soon as she’s on set shows an impressive talent in acting and being able to cry on command. We also meet a young Spanish man named Manuel who falls in love with Nellie the first time he meets her, and who is at first is at first the employee of Jack Conrad (played by Brad Pitt), a great star of mute movies whose reputation begins to fall with the arrival of “talkies”. Manuel, as an exterior person, enables the audience to have a an insight of Hollywood and plunges us into the mad world of the film industry, and its ambiance of constant debauchery. What I found particularly realistic was the way that Hollywood gave the impression of being completely disconnected from the actual world , and I think this aspect was really well accentuated through the numerous party scenes, and with the very humoristic touches. The message behind the movie is also to show Hollywood produces movies that are able to transport the public through time and make them feel exceptional emotions,  but it can also completely destroy people engaged in this industry in a bat of an eye. 

This is a picture of the scene during which Nellie Laroy shows her acting abilities for the first time. This scene really insists on how much time and energy is required in order to produce a single film sequence, and it is both made very funny and very beautiful. 

What I also particularly liked about this movie was the way it was filmed and cut in general. Indeed, this film really insists on the notion of contrast, which greatly in participate in shaking the audience’s feelings and I think it is also what makes this movie stand out. For instance, some truly dramatic scenes are suddenly cut with no transition by a very loud joyful trumpet music, which also de-dramatizes the scenes and make them funnier, but also make them more serious in a way as it reflects the way the film industry is based on people forgetting the sadness of life by drinking, taking drugs and partying all the time to avoid to confront themselves with grave issues. There were also moments of pure chaos emphasized by music, dynamic camera plans,

 and overwhelming background sounds, which clashed with occasional long and silent sequences, which I find made the movie really poetic and beautiful. 

What I also loved was the choice of music, which triggers really strong emotions and really plunges us into the story. I also really liked the variety of really original camera plans that are combined throughout he film, I’m unable to name them because I’m really not an expert but for instance sometimes who could only see the scene through an ajar door, and the camera often zooms out of the face of a character to catch the global scene, …

The acting skills of the cast were also impressive, and I thought that the actors fitted especially well their characters. For instance, I thought that hyperactive and very energetic character of Nellie Laroy mainly used in movies for her seducing appearance and her over-expressive behavior also reflects how Margot Robbie nearly always has the same kind of roles in movies : the stereotype of the provocative and sexy woman. I was also surprised by Tobey Maguire’s performance, as I was used to see him embody funny or nice characters, and his role of a horrible man spending his activities on awful activities really changed from the image I had of him, and I thought he played it really well, which shows how talented he is. 

To conclude, this movie is perfect according to me, I have nothing wrong to say about it, it has personally really touched me and it is probably one of my favorite films. I really recommend you to watch it if you have the chance, even though it is long (it lasts like 3 hours) you will be so caught up by the story that you won’t be able to notice time passing. Of course, you might not find it as great as I do for many reasons, but it will certainly not leave you indifferent, and even though you don’t like it it is still a very interesting movie that is good to have watched. 

Here are some cool pictures of the movie : 

  

And here are some nice quotes from the movie : 

“You don’t become a star. You either are one or you ain’t. I am” -Nellie Laroy 

“We’ve got to innovate, we’ve got to inspire. We got to dream beyond these pesky shells of flesh and bone. Map those dreams onto celluloid and print them into history.” -Jack Conrad 

“I just wanna be part of something bigger I guess” -Manuel Torres 

Thanks for reading ! I hope I have convinced to go and watch this movie. 

Have great day :)