Babylon (2022)

Directed by Damien Chazelle. Starring Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva, Jovan Adepo, Jean Smart, Li Jun Li, Lukas Haas, Tobey Maguire, Rory Scovel, P. J. Byrne, Olivia Hamilton, Flea, Samara Weaving, Eric Roberts, Max Minghella, Katherine Waterston, Jeff Garlin, Telvin Griffin, Spike Jonze, Ethan Suplee, Olivia Wilde. [R]

Damien Chazelle’s drug-and-fluids-fueled epic of Hollywood at the transitional point from silent pictures to talkies is an audacious Boogie Nights-esque rise-and-fall narrative with a few glaring flaws, but also a ton of vitality, lavish production values, strong performances, and a satisfying glorification of the power of movies (laid on thick, sure, but what do I care if I share that same adoration?). There’s a little A Star Is Born and a lot of Singin’ in the Rain in the intertwined stories of making movies, getting famous, losing touch, fading out, and self-destructing among a colorful ensemble of stars, creators, businessmen, dreamers, enablers, wannabes and hangers-on. Sheer energy sacrifices polished craft at times—example: the erratic editing and shot selections during an early coke-binge convo make for an eyesore—and some will, no doubt, be turned off by the brazen depravity on display, but at least you’ll know right off the bat if you should get off this trolley since the first ten minutes feature gallons of sloppy elephant feces, consensual “water sports”, and phony ejaculate. But the “shocks” are spaced out as the film continues, and the vivid characterizations and “edu-taining” recreations of yesteryear moviemaking come into focus, showing how Robbie’s Nellie LaRoy proved she was born a star, how Calva’s aspiring movie-set gofer became a studio executive, and how Pitt’s aging silent film star learns his “time” has come. Dramatic inconsistencies interrupt the flow, but when the pic hits its lengthy strides, it’s arresting stuff, with serpentine camerawork and excitable rhythms and busy details bursting out of almost every frame. The rampant (and obvious) symbolism of hell, deals with the devil, and the seven deadly sins gets a little too heavy-handed after a while, with a Dante-inspired decent into an underworld inhabited by a rat-chomping monstrosity going astray at just about the worst possible time, but subtlety had no place in the world Chazelle and his team have created, sometimes disgusting and upsetting, but too often a marvel to behold for such complaints. Movie buffs should appreciate all the allusions and direct references to the era and its celebrities/kingmakers, such as “appearances” from William Randolph Hearst & Marion Davies, and Li’s alluring queer chanteuse coming off as a cross-section of Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. Co-star Maguire co-executive produced.

78/100