Summary
Post-Oscar blank cheque moviesare often some of the most funpicturesaround, and so it went for Damien Chazelle after La La Land. Fresh off one of the most iconic films of the 2010s, Chazelle directed Babylon - a love letter to classic Hollywood, full of verve and excess and sheer runtime, clocking in at 189 minutes. Unfortunately, current Hollywood didn’t love it back.
It failed to make back its $80 budget and scored just 57 percent with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and coming in even lower with a 51 percent audience score. Viewers were put off by the disgusting antics of the movie, which opens with a woman urinating on a mans face and also features a live rat being eaten and an elephant defecating on the camera. Amongst that though, it has the glitz and glamour ofMargot Robbieat her unbridled best. Right now, you cancatch the film on Paramount Plus.
Grotesquerie, Absurdity, And Debauchery In Babylon
The movie stars Robbie as Nellie LaRoy, a Clara Bow figure breaking into Hollywood at the dawn of the talkie. It also features Brad Pitt as Jack Conrad, an aging star who lit up silent films but is unable to make the leap into modern technology. Diego Calva as Manny Torres, a young producer trying to navigate the challenges of breaking into Hollywood as an immigrant and his romantic feelings towards LaRoy, rounds out the main cast, while support comes from a host of names like Tobey Maguire, Jovan Adepo, Eric Roberts, Samara Weaving, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Most of the movie’s criticisms come from its excess and vulgarity, rather than issues with the story or script, with one critic calling it"repulsive, wretched excess",and another claiming Chazelle is “opting instead to wallow in grotesquerie, absurdity, and debauchery” with the movie. Though Babylon has its staunch defenders as one of the most abmitiously epic recreations of the 1920s party scene ever put to film, it is easy to find examples some viewers would find off-putting.
In one scene, Robbie’s LaRoy is warned not to make draw attention to herself, so she acts out, shoving fistfuls of crushed food into her mouth, rubbing the remnants all over her face and dress, before projectile vominting on the host. This is one of many examples of Robbie pushing herself to limits other stars would not reach for (or would not stoop to), which is what makes Babylon so fascinating.
