“Babylon” is the fifth feature film from one of the most talented directors of our time – Damien Chazelle. Having started his career brightly with the superb musical drama “Obsession,” Shazell’s name was recognized the world over, and movie studios were willing to give him any kind of money for his next potential hit. It is difficult to name another such, quite, young, and most importantly talented director, whose every movie is a real work of art. Whether it’s the musical La La Land or the biographical drama Man on the Moon. Not least of all, this is due to the fact that Shazell studied filmmaking at Harvard University. It is thanks to the profile education, his films look so flawless, calibrated and easy.
“Babylon” – unequivocally, stands next to the director’s previous works. It can be seen that Damien absorbed all the director’s and screenwriter’s experience, revealing to the audience his next, stunning picture.
The movie describes the 20s of the film industry in Hollywood, the moment when sound movies replace silent movies. The main characters Manny (Diego Calva) and Nelly (Margot Robbie), dream of getting in touch with the work related to the movie. The only quick way to get such a job is through big and crazy parties of famous producers. At one of them Nelly gets an invitation to shoot, and Manny gets a job as an assistant to silent movie star Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt). Who is just dreaming dreams of perfection and change in the movie industry. But those very changes in the form of the arrival of sound cinema and changing the conditions of its production, put the main characters in very difficult, and some in desperate situations.
Repeatedly, movies have shown what the work of an actor really is (“Birdman”, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”), but the history of the 20-ies no one touched. So this, the first look at the filmmaking process of silent movies looks very entertaining and, surprisingly, crazy. When 7-8 movies are shot simultaneously, in the middle of some deserted field, an epic medieval battle of three hundred actors is filmed side by side. The shooting process itself is shown perfectly, when everything goes wrong: one of the actors did not come, the last camera broke, the weather got bad, and many other nuances of the profession, which are invisible to the viewer, and which he does not think about when watching this or that movie.
The very title of the movie – Babylon is, of course, a biblical reference. Babylon in the Bible is the city that god used to judge people, and in general Babylon has become the personification of the power that opposes god. Like a god bringing justice by changing people’s fates, the imminent changes in the movie ruin the lives of the main characters. Manny and Nelly, who just got their chance to touch the coveted profession, inevitably face insurmountable difficulties in the form of transformation of silent movies into sound movies. Adapt to which, it turned out, is much more difficult than many might have thought. The specifics of the acting profession, the method of shooting, recording sound, the need to memorize the text put before the protagonists huge difficulties, to cope with which some are destined, some are not, and some have to end with work and the dream of a lifetime.
Not only the inner kitchen of movie production changes, but also the owners who make money on this movie. All the main characters, who yesterday were having fun at crazy, depraved, immoral parties, are forced to take part in social gatherings that are disgusting to them. And in all the “big” people they see only hypocrisy, falsity, pretense and debauchery (remembering the scale of debauchery of the parties of the main characters, this point is questionable). The apogee of the arrival of new rules in the movie industry for the main characters is represented by James McKay (Tobey Maguire), who being a rich, influential man has no idea about beauty, art and cinema in particular. But it is people like this who are ready to allocate money for movies and promote their “brilliant” ideas.
But in any case, the heroes are faced with insurmountable obstacles, in the form of new rules to which they have neither the ability nor the desire to adapt. Therefore, all the main characters come to their only logical finale, which none of them could not avoid.
The most revealing looks like the fate of the hero Brad Pitt, who most of all dreamed of change, perfection in the movie, but cope with the new trends like other heroes could not. Despite all the aspirations and efforts in sound cinema, he could not achieve success, which forced him to star in second-rate films of mediocre quality. Being a star in silent movies in the past, having a lot of money, great experience, in the new realities, he becomes no one needs. And to be needed for the actor is the most important need, and no money, awards will not overshadow the fact that the audience laughs at the work of the actor.ΠΌ