Babylon (2022) * * *

 

Directed by:  Damien Chazelle

Starring:  Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Tobey Maguire, Lukas Haas, Samara Weaving, Li Jun Li

Babylon, like the Hollywood party which opens the film, burgeons at the seems with characters, action, and plotlines and ready to burst.   The first thirty to forty minutes of Babylon takes place at a remote castle in the Hollywood Hills jam packed with wall-to-wall people, noise, drugs, alcohol, wretched sex, and excess 1920's style.   Excess as in the presence of an elephant which defecates on our poor hero Manny Torres (Calva), a gofer for a major Hollywood producer who is willing to be crapped on literally and figuratively to gain a place among the elite.   Manny is assigned as the party is ending around 5am to drive movie star Jack Conrad (Pitt) home so he can rest and show up to the set at a reasonable time.  Pitt is smashed, but something tells us this is old hat to him by now.

Also present is party crasher Nellie LaRoy (Robbie), who with her squeaky voice and gorgeous looks is trying to find her way into films.   She gets her chance when a movie's star is found dead in the company of a large actor who is likely modeled after Fatty Arbuckle.  Nellie doesn't disappoint.  It is still the silent-movie era and the frantic pace of the movie set where a half-dozen movies are being shot under the California sun reflects the stress and joy of moviemaking.  Jack thinks his fame will last forever and Nellie's star is soon on the rise.  In a few months, The Jazz Singer will premiere and movies (and many of its stars) are changed forever.  

Nellie's voice and Joisey accent do not translate well to talkies.  She first tries elocution lessons and rubbing elbows in high society, but neither works, and she finds herself delving further into drugs.  Jack's star also fades.   He speaks well enough, but his line recital sparks unintentional laughter from audiences.  Jack retreats further into despondency.  He takes small parts in crappy movies in hopes it will earn him a rub from producers, but no luck.  His demise pays off in a sad, but not unexpected action.  Meanwhile, Manny is promoted to studio executive, where his job description seems to be that of a glorified gofer.   He loves Nellie, who may love him back but ultimately loves cocaine and heroin more.  Manny attempts to pay off her drug debt to a vile dealer (Maguire), who takes Manny for a trip into another party from hell.

Once Babylon establishes its rhythm, it is involving and features an emotional payoff in which Manny is watching Singin' in the Rain many years after the movie's events and tearfully understanding who and what it is based on.  Writer/director Chazelle establishes Babylon with an eye for detail and time and place.   Pitt and Robbie rely on their star power to give us stars who not only fall, but crash, and there is a sad poignancy to the tail end of their careers.   Jean Smart, as a famed gossip columnist, tells Jack in a sympathetic, passionate speech that long after he's gone, his work will remain and he will live forever in a sense.   This doesn't make him feel any better about his current situation which involves no work and a string of failed marriages.   Diego Calva's Manny is a good-natured soul with a heart and thus might not have a place in this era of Hollywood.   He loves Jack and Nellie, albeit in different ways, and when he's watching Singin' in the Rain, we understand just how much.