Babylon it arrived in the room a few days ago and since then it has opened a debate that does not intend to cease. But what makes the critics agree is that Babylon it is not a film for everyone, especially for those who have always lived the cinematic experience passively. Damien Chazelle (38 years old and an Oscar winner behind him) plays with the camera, pushes with music and dare with the dialoguesregardless of the fact that this arrogance welcome by many would have cost him the candidacy for the Academy Awards.
Therefore, if you are among those who did not appreciate the film, I advise you not to continue reading this article, because this is intended to be not only an ode to a subtle work with immeasurable potentialbut a journey into cinematography as art, experience and passion.
Babylon starts and the rest is wow effect
The story begins and after the elephant scene (which, as reported by the director, really happened in the past, as well as the other two disturbing ones), we are catapulted to what we could define as a party but which is actually a artistic composition.
It begins with a meticulous sequence shot, which for film lovers like me means only one thing: adrenaline. An artistic composition perfectly accompanied by music that breaks free on three different levels and ends up converging in a framing that increasingly favors the detail plan. The beginning is a wow effect and aims to introduce us to those who would have been the main protagonists: Nellei Leroy (Margot Robbie), Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) and Manny Torres (Diego Calva).
Nellei is a wild girl in search of fame, Manny is an aspiring director and Jack Conrad is a famous actor. This trio takes place in the glittering Hollywood of the 20s, chaotic, adrenaline-pumped and exaggerated, just like the movie of the visionary Chazelle. The death of an extra during the party is Nellei’s opportunity to act and the beginning of a story that will last an incredible 3 hours of film.
To appreciate Babylon you have to understand cinema
Babylon is not a film for everyone, but to appreciate it one must not only love cinema in a visceral way but also get excited in front of directing techniques that we are no longer used to seeing. Recently I was very impressed with the sound mixing of Elvis (candidate for 8 Academy Awards), so much to praise Baz Luhrmann for having revived the massive use of sound effects in cinema (which today we take too much for granted, undeniable). However, Chazelle has music in his blood and he takes it all the drum sound which had not served him in Whiplash and attaches it to the sequences of Babylon, the result? POETRY.
Chazelle divide le scene in narrative arcs and the incredible first act follows the course of a day fragmented into three scenes. The discovery of Nellei’s talent (an expressive and exceptional Margot Robbie), Manny’s desperate search for the camera and the minimum effort and maximum success of mediocre Jack Conrad on set. Visually wonderful and sometimes amusing scenes, which last at least twenty minutes but which are so rhythmic as to delude us that only a few minutes have passed.
In Babylon music plays a fundamental role, so important that no film like this creates such strong discomfort in us moments of silence, because yes, they are moments of total silence where if we focus too much we can even hear the thoughts of the person next to us. Technique that Chazelle loves and that he also used in the final scene of The First Man.
The wonderful history of cinema
As I said, this film is poetry for cinema history lovers, also thanks to numerous references to it. The montage scenes and the manipulation of the frames, often decided by Conrad himself, reminded me a lot of a recently seen film. I mean The Fabelmans (here is our review), a small masterpiece by a humble Spielberg who not only makes an autobiography, but makes it so spectacular as to receive an Oscar nomination for best film.
The story of the characters is inextricably intertwined with the history of cinema and in particular at that moment in which silent cinema gave way to sound, incredible discovery and condemnation for those who had made their trademark of their expressiveness. The semicolon takes place in 1927, with the release of de The jazz singer, the first sound film in history that marks the beginning of the end for Jack and a threat to Nellie. It is given to the latter one chance to rehabilitate her image, but unfortunately after throwing up in front of everyone she is butchered by journalism (bolstered by the enactment of the Hays Code and why her relationship with Lady Fei ends).
I found the scenes in which the first difficulties in shooting films with sound are shown among the most beautiful of the entire film, the position of the microphones, the rubber shoes and the impossibility of turning on the air conditioners. Finally, the strong opposition among the crowded people in the early scenes on the set and the need for real silence and distancing during filming in the studios, far away from the sets we saw in the opening scenes.
It all seems wrong
The more you go on with the vision, the more the confusion increases. Chaos takes over, the scenes are increasingly chaotic, and yet everything has its perfect fit and from chaos comes perfection.
The film is not only a pleasure for the eyes, but a pleasure for the ears. The music follows the scenes and grows until it reaches its climax, which is the end of each act which ends with a simple fade, in contrast to an assembly that has absolutely nothing simple. Chazelle exploits the film to pay homage to music and above all to those who make music, showing us the scene in which, finally, filmic space is also given to those who previously limited themselves to compose the soundtrack out of focus.
Then, towards the end, he gives us an always appreciated Tobey Maguire with a quick reference to the freak showabruptly interrupted by Jack Conrad’s suicide, apparently out of context with the previous scene, but morbid in its composition. The monsters in that moment are us spectators who find ourselves stuck in one voyeuristic inclination cinematic (we witness the scene looking through a crack in the door).
A cycle that does not end, evolves
During the film, a Manny in love finds himself having everything and losing everything because of the Nelleis, with whom he is in love from the first moment. Unable to let her go and having nearly risked his life to pay off the madman she was in debt to (James McKay – Tobey Meguire) he asks her to run away together in Mexico.
In the end, however Nellei escapes and leaves the scene in total contrast with her crackling arrival, silent, in the dark of a night that no longer looks for rising stars. As for Manny, he leaves Hollywood forever, until, after so many years, he returns in the company of his new family for a pleasure trip, admitting that he is not never went to the cinema again.
Having closed the circle and returning to the city of cinema 26 years after the beginning of the story, Manny Torres sits down in a cinema and the magic begins there.
Babylon is cinema
In the final sequences, the man finds himself experiencing all the essence and evolution of cinema. Babylon examines the career, life and death of those who work in the film industry, tackling one of the issues that brought many actors to their knees in ’27.
Se the careers of many I endHollywood goes on and also thanks to the ideas and performances of great artists it evolves, however remaining a dangerous playground, which takes no prisoners but which makes slaves those who are part of it and who cannot find a reason to continue living without it. We only think of Jack and his inability to accept the life cycle of the actor, a strong supporter of evolution in the cinematographic field but unable to accept it when it collides with his actor’s mismatch.
Of Babylon many things could be said, among these underlining the acting skills of the protagonists and in particular of Margot Robbie, who unfairly did not even receive a nomination for the Academy. Also, I want to recommend dispassionately viewing in theaters for a 360° experience.
The ending of Babylon it is a sequence that, for those who have a good foundation in cinematography (but above all a great passion) are capable of deeply upsetenough to bring tears to my eyes. At the end of the film you leave exhausted, because this masterpiece is an experience that can in no way be lived passively.
Chazelle is too much, and we love that.
