Babylon

Chazelle you genius art art art I love art I love music I love movies I love art. This review will be a documentation of my thoughts while watching this movie, along with my final thoughts after I was done. We start Babylon with a 30 minute intro where we are introduced to the main characters while they all attend a party filled with celebrities, that entire party is choreographed and blocked to perfection, overall a beautiful sequence.  the scenes where we see movies being filmed are beautiful, seeing the stress in shooting a film, the emotion, the beauty, oh my god. The visuals in this movie are insane, every single scene in this movie is shot in such an astonishing way.  The party that leads to the snake fight is also cool, the snake fight itself has amazing lighting, I love how it’s lit up by just car headlights, it gives the entire scene an amazing vibe, something Chazelle does very well. The scene where Brad Pitts’s character screams at his wife is emotional, it showcases Pitts acting skills along with Chazelle’s impeccable writing. I love the films direction with showing the inexperience of Nellie, Sydney, and Manny especially at the hollywood party, none of the characters fit in because of their background, each character is bombarded with comments and questions, filling the atmosphere with this feeling of stress. The scene right after where Conrad goes to the movie theater is heartbreaking. The scene where Nellie asks for Manny’s help is heartbreaking  Tobey Maguire’s character’s introduction is terrifying, literally every scene is fear inducing, and the makeup team does an amazing job at making him look psychotic, the weird sex dungeon is also really cool. The production in this movie is spectacular, the set design, the makeup, costumes everything is breathtaking. Babylon has scenes in both spectrums of cinema, it features hilarious scenes that make you laugh, sorrowful scenes that can make you cry, Babylon will make you feel every emotion. Jack Conrad’s story is depressing, a tale of someone who lost his purpose after having it for so long, Nellie’s story is depressing, she found what she needed and lost it because of who she was. Manny’s story is depressing, he found what he needed and lost it because of who he loved.  Justin Hurwitz might be my hero. The storytelling in this movie is extraordinary, the characters are well written and for a 3 hour runtime I was entertained the entire time, this movie deserved so much better. This film is a love letter to movies in general, movies are an escape from life, movies are a meaningful experience. Then the film closes with a recap of what we saw including a huge sequence on the history of movies both past and present, I take it as a celebration on humanity, a celebration on art.  I love this film, I adore this film. I love movies.