Babylon

Nellie was a blonde and her age stood still

And twice a day she danced at vaudeville

She would, but,

Who went to vaudeville those days?

Not her.

Her future was pictures.

Yes, sir.

She shared her future with Manny Torres

When she and he took part in a party

Mr. March, who I'm trying to parody,

Would gasp at all the debauchery.

There's also Jack Conrad

Movie Star and cad.

His star falls when movies learn to talk

There's Sidney Palmer

Jazz Trumpeter.

From Racist Hollywood he shall walk.

And Lady Fay Zhu

A cabaret star with quite the love life. 

Hollywood will balk.

All these faces are in the Tinseltown

Of Damien Chazelle's Babylon.

I was attempting to parody Joseph Moncure March's poem The Wild Party with that intro. That's because Babylon also opens with a similarly wild party. Its parade of debauchery will shock and impress you. The impressive part comes from cinematographer Linus Sandgren's single shot tour of the whole affair. Another impressive sequence comes when we tour the fictional Kinoscope studios' cavalcade of productions. There, Nellie (Margot Robbie) films her big break, while Manny (Diego Calva) assists Jack's (Brad Pitt) new movie. Manny soon rushes to get a camera after all on set are destroyed in a breakneck sequence edited by Tom Cross. 

That wild party comprises the first half hour or so. We get to gangster James McKay's (Tobey Maguire) den of sin near the end. About the tamest thing I can mention from there is the rat-eating wild man. Surprisingly, that wasn't the scene that nearly sickened me. The trophy goes to Nellie's coup-de-grace in her rant against the stuffy rich. Meanwhile, Lady Fay (Li Jun Li) and Sidney (Jovan Adepo), get some compelling plotlines as they struggle against Hollywood bigotry. Both exit the film in tragically abrupt fashion. It's a shame because Fay saving Nellie from her own idiocy was awesome. Those plot lines are lost in the shuffle of its massive 189-minute runtime.

The leads have some compelling plot threads, too. Nellie struggles with the demands of both silent and talkie screen acting. The latter sequence sees numerous takes botched as she and others fail to take their new sound system into account. These eight takes feel like eighty and take their toll on a poor crew member. Manny, meanwhile, sees the dark side of fame as he rises from assistant to executive. He even plays an unwilling part in Sidney's exit from Hollywood. Manny and Nellie's relationship is fine, while Jack is an OK guy. As a film buff, I did get a kick out of recognizing the inspiration for Jack's talkie debut. 

The madness leaves a massive canvass for Justin Hurwitz to compose his score on. You can imagine what's going on if you listen to the score by itself. The party music is Wild, while the finale score is appropriately melancholy. Hurwitz and the sound designers join the makeup team in getting Oscar-shortlisted. The makeup team's best work is making Maguire into the unnerving McCay. His performance is all the more perfectly ghoulish with their help. The production and costume designers are guaranteed Oscar spots with their colorful work. Another highlight of Sandgren's work is the finale as it sweeps around a theater showing Singin' in the Rain.

Your ability to enjoy Babylon depends on if you can get through the opening party. That sequence left me asking "what is this?" multiple times. I'm sure it will for you, too. It does have some fascinating sequences depicting Old Hollywood film production. It does have a decent love story. But its massive runtime and madness are taxing on its audience's empathies. See it if you want to. If you don't, might I suggest you seek out the soundtrack? It's really that good.