Babylon is a 2022 period piece about the transition of the movie industry from the silent film era to the new generation of “talkies”. The movie stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, and Li Jun Li with appearances of some familiar faces like Tobey Maguire, Flea, and Ethan Suplee. It has a long running time with three hours and eight minutes. But, it’s fast paced and enthralling, and it goes faster than you might think three hours would go by.
Financially, this movie was a big flop. It only made $63 million against a combined production budget of $160 million, costing Paramount Pictures over $100 million. Despite that, I think this is a great movie. I think this is a movie for people who love movies. It really made a lot of sense to me how all of the characters were big stars when the medium that they were used to was working and popular, gets replaced. And all of the sudden, the people who were on top, aren’t on top anymore. It must be a jarring realization for somebody in the public eye.
But it wasn’t just the storytelling that made this movie so great. It was the interaction between the characters that also made a difference. The delivery by Margot Robbie of her Jersey girl accent and the unflappable calmness of Jack Conroy as Brad Pitt goes about his business doing whatever he’s doing while anything happens around him. Those are great characters, and they’re done expertly. Performed in a talkie, like they should be.
The beginning scene, showing the excess and overindulgence of Hollywood with their lavish parties and almost “Eyes Wide Shut” type moments, seemed to go on for almost no reason. I can see how he needed to be there to meet Nellie in the first place. But that scene went on for like a half an hour. I think that was a bit excessive and added to the three hour run time of the movie.
Despite that, it’s still worth seeing. Even if you don’t love movies. So, yeah. Go and see Babylon. It’s not only a good look into the fictional eyes of history, but there’s more than a couple scenes with poignant lines that you might remember for the rest of your days. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…
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