Babylon

I just love the idea of a director directing a director on a double layered movie set, that is directing actors acting as actors, including cameraman filming cameraman, etc. The whole film is a homage to itself and everything that was a reason for it to be a movie. Meta at its core, and meta executed to perfection. Absolutely insane movie. It’s so ambitious and gets tangled up in itself but it works so well. And the runtime of three hours doesn’t even feel close to that, it’s so interesting and pulls you in, you don’t even notice the long duration. Had me hooked from the thirty minute opening… That party scene was crazy. It was flawless for the first two hours, then it became a little messy towards the end but redeemed itself with that ending. That ending was one of the greatest endings in all of cinema. In addition, as a person who isn’t a big music guy, (in the sense I don’t pursue or listen to music) the original score and soundtrack is mind blowing. That little tune is infinitely adaptive, fitting its way to match the each individual scene. What a ride, pretty much perfect from start to finish. It truly shines in the first half-an-hour and last five minutes, filled with greatness in between. I definitely prefer this over La La Land, and honestly I like it more than Whiplash, too. Damien Chazelle is a visionary who created the immersive masterpiece that is Babylon.