Review of Babylon (2022) by Exceladeogun — 02 Feb 2023

Babylon.

Babylon is 3 hours of movie love, an exposé and recall to Hollywood's transition from silent to sound films. With a diverse cast, Babylon fully shows how its characters navigate through the pivotal change in movie making.

The first half of Babylon is an overwhelming and dazzling display of what that time period was. But, as the movie stretches into its concluding half, the beautiful chaos that preceded quickly dwindles and the direction becomes lost, giving off the feeling that the director became too ambitious or indulgent and didn't know how to properly move his story along.

The themes of Babylon are explored without hesitance. Babylon brings a mix of identity, social mobility and climbing, and capitalistic greed with as much nudity, violence and drugs it can get away with.

If the exploration of movie making in the 1920s and 1930s isn't enough reason to see Babylon, the cast should be. Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt seamlessly weave through with a nuanced portrayal of their characters, in such a way that only well seasoned acts can. Diego Calva also delivers a revelatory performance as Manuel 'manny' Torres. The score, cinematography and locations of Babylon are also fitting.

Babylon would have been a masterpiece with restraint from its director, needing a few cuts and edits, nonetheless, it is a thrilling and entertaining piece of cinematic magic.