We beg people to be creative. We groan when there's another reboot or super hero sequel. Or atleast I do. So when something like this movie comes along I don't get how people can bash it. I just walked out of it. I thought it was amazing. My 2 favorite parts was Nellies first movie with sound. And all of Tobey Maguire. Seriously like wtf was that. Hell of picture 2 thumbs up from me.
@@chandlerredhead27 but it at least makes it intresting worth seeing I rather watch a ambicious unique Disaster than your bang average run of the milk Comic Book Film like Black Adam or Wakanda Forever
@@DisasterArtist1997 Don't get me wrong, I HATE cookie cutter films pushed by the industry like you mentioned. I just think I might take them (or watching nothing) over seeing literally elephant shit and a bunch of self-serving Hollywood drivel
i seriously don’t understand how someone could like the tobey maguire part it’s so stupid and detached from the first parts of the movie it just made me angry
It was eye popping, jaw dropping, mesmerizing, maddening, and poignant experience. It was also heavenly as well as hellish. May seem messy/polarizing I get that but this was quite a movie. Despite the box office bombing, I really hope Damien Chazelle’s keeps making movies like this.
Seriously this movie is pretty damn good. I love how it represents the passage of time for other people, people who want to change and people who desperately hang onto their times. Bless this movie.
I saw this movie alone in an empty theater after sneaking in some mini alcohol bottles and making my own makeshift cocktail. And I gotta say, it was one hell of a time. Loved it
when they started singing "singing in the rain" at the end i could feel the nostalgia that manny experienced, having been there during the original production. its like we lived the career with the characters. this is one of very few 3+ hour movies that managed to not be boring.
I saw this movie with maybe 5 other people at a late night showing. Best movie experience I’ve had in years - no kid crying in my ear and no one talking down below me. Hearing the five or six of us laugh at the same parts sounded and felt amazing without filling the theater full of it. It was without a doubt a VERY much needed and refreshing movie. I personally didn’t love all 100% of the movie, but my god was it entertaining from the first second to the last. Damien got to stretch his legs with this one and TRULY show us what he can do. I want more of this.
@@goodboystuff9700 I don't know what you usually watch but this movie, while sure having some graphic things, is faaar from being disruptive on this side. There are plenty of well known and appreciated movies with things way more disturbing and disgusting in. I don't get why people are shocked for so so little.
@@gdiwolverinemale2745 Cheap shot. He liked watching a movie on a big screen that took risks without the present day hazards that occur in movie theaters, today.
the movie is a masterpiece. after seeing twice i think i consider this my favorite movie from last year. my only issue that maybe they could have cut maybe 10 or so minutes like the party scenes could have been cut a tad shorter but other then that i loved this so much.
The opening party sequence is absolutely mind-blowing and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but yeah, some of the other sequences could be trimmed a bit. Still, I can easily ignore this for everything else the movie gives me.
It is a masterpiece. The story is much much deeper then people are giving credit for. They get caught up that it is a 3 hour orgy. The amount of detail, the color, the set piece, story, the sound, screen writing, and for sure the ending. It truly is a masterpiece that can be studied for years to come. It’s mind-blowing to think about it. It needs to be seen on the big screen and give people an opportunity to study it. Each frame is amazing.
Damn bruh you must be missing eyes. The pacing, plot, majority of the acting, and some cinematography were less than mediocre. The fact that anyone could would label this anything over disappointing is beyond me. Given, Babylon is not forgettable, but just memorable for all the wrong things. Once upon a time in hollywood is far better a movie than Babylon, and I do not consider once upon a time in hollywood to particularly impressive. There are SO MANY better movies from 2022 than babylon, for instance the Northman or All Quiet On The Western Front (which for me is the best picture of the year).
The critic who labeled Babylon 'a defecating elephant of a movie' got up and left after the defecating elephant scene, thereby missing MOST of the film's majesty.
I disagree. The movie already made that point when manny is watching singin in the rain. Shadowing all those film snippets was way over indulgent, I don’t think it needed all that. Great film though
??? I think you should reconsider what film "hasnt had" over the years. There is quite literally nothing special, at least not in a positive way, about the beginning, middle, or end of this movie.
i personally dont think it was necessary a greater film would've let the movie speak the point for itself. feel like it should've just ended when manny is crying while watching the movie , that already tells enough
What impressed me the most in this film were the rythm and score, as well as the sound mixing. It absolutely benefits from viewing on a big screen, but, more importantly, it benefits from surround sound. The way the trumpets get louder as the camera pans closer to them, the booming sound that makes the intercutting silent moments feel surreal, then the beat starting up again, to take you into a new wild ride; all of that almost made me feel like I was phisically moving through the scenes myself
My favorite scenes in the movie are the ones that show early film production, especially the ones in the desert where literally 15 films or more are being shot simultaneously. I believe the film production techniques were accurate, although I don’t think a cameraman would have been allowed to suffocate in his little blimp house. I appreciated the mention of the 2709 camera, quite a popular camera of the time period. And when I saw the “1927” graphic appear, I knew what was coming, the emergence of sound and The Jazz Singer. Although I loved those scenes I’d never consider Babylon a masterpiece.
Although I'd add a few things to that, I think that is one of the first balanced and fair reflections on the film that I have read here. I'd agree with you that it was good to see some of the technical side of filmmaking during that period of Hollywood and its development.
This movie gave the middle finger to the "real" Hollywood in all its dirt, grime and tragedy. I am traumatized by this movie. It's dramatic waves of dark OVERtones hit like a tsunami. Nothing in this movie was insidious nor gradual other than the looming fate of Nellie and Conrad. The second he starts walking down the long hotel corridor to his room, I knew he was going to end his life. The angle of the camera "peeking" into his room through the slightly ajar door was eerie. Nellie disappearing into the "darkness" was a haunting foreshadow of what would happen to her. The scenes with McKay were symbolic of the true underworld of Hollyweird that many of us know exists. Babylon is a profound punch in the gut. There is an element of this movie in every person's life.
For me, it was as soon as he gave the kid a tip. Generally, people who are depressed or are about to end their life start to become very giddy and happy, as well as give away many of their belongings and money as well
It’s a beautiful, beautiful movie.. it starts a bit slow and seems a bit pointless, but then midway it gains traction and at the end I personally couldn’t stop myself crying. I didn’t expect to be hit with how beautiful the idea behind the movie is. And the idea is - we live our lives and we die whether achieved something or not, but what lives on is the idea. The idea of how we lived, the idea that we pursued and potentially felt we never reached, the idea of who we are which lives on in others who follow the same patterns, the idea of life itself. And all of this is beautifully captured like on a movie film, and the metaphor at the end of the movie where he watches movies and sees his own life, as if he died and is already watching his life back to himself. The nostalgic beautiful sadness pushes the tears through your eyes, unstoppably.
This movie is insane, way too long and kind of up it’s own ass but I loved it! Maybe I’m just a sucker for these Goodfellas/Boogie nights-esque type movies but I enjoyed even if it went too far or felt like it dragged on at certain points. Really intense. My favorite scene was definitely the one where the critic gossip lady tells Jack about how his star is fading and there’s nothing he can do about it but how his films will forever immortalize him.
Id rather watch this again for 3 hours than that atrocity of a movie "Avatar 2: The Way of Water. That movie didnt need a 2nd one. Or 3rd or 4th which they've already started shooting for. The visuals were good but god they ruined the story. What a steaming pile of shit James Cameron made.
@@fabledgames9695 Man, i swear Avatar 2 was just giant blue people messing with fluorescent glowy plants and fish for hours. Boring and the story did not make sense and went nowhere
I thought it was great. Chazelle understands the language of cinema and is not afraid to jump into the deep end. I loved his use of color, pacing, sound, music, juxtaposition, costume, set. He is fantastic with energy - the frenetic scenes are perfect and how that is contrasted later is used brilliantly to reflect changing Hollywood. There was a great use of humor as counterpoint to the tragedy.
Think it's one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. Thank you to everyone involved with this project in creating something original and thought provoking.
singing in the rain was a sort of reply to sunset boulevard, a much darker depiction of the effect on actors with the change from silents to talkies. I loved Babylon. It did get very dark, but it was memorably crazy, sad and fun.
not just about the sun setting on people, but how that image can be captured and reportrayed as magic and beautiful, despite the messy reality of its history
there were a lot of things I enjoyed about this film. mainly the Tobey maguire scene, Nellie's first sound movie, and the snake scene. but it does kind of go on for too long. and it's weird that the ending montage is a way for the film to live through other films success. overall I don't regret seeing it but it will be a while before I watch it again
The ending montage is a visual depiction of the truths mouthed by Elinor to help Jack understand his place, his role... his hurting. The movie Babylon is great because it teaches, reminds and warns us all about universal reality... all in a very entertaining way. I'm nobody... just a guy who retired five years ago and suffered enormously when I realised that I was being treated the same way I treated the old farts who retired before me. Just clean out and clear out and, you know, have a nice life. Chazelle's movie making theme is a microcosm of anything... everything. It is universal, this idea is enormous if you let it settle in a bit. I mean Chazelle clobbers us over the head with the message but nobody I know gets it... yet.
This film is about art itself and therefore life, yes! The beginning coke talk with Nellie. There director Chazelle, through Manny's mouth explains his passion for cinema and how he wanted to become a part of something bigger! In the end we see the future of cinema and cinema connects people one to another through empathy, Manny (director) realizes he is not alone and that his work was WORTH it. That's why his melancholic tears turn into a smile in awe. He sees the transition he literally experienced in the industry inside an another era film he watches in the theathre. He realizes the meaning of cinema and art there. And we see the cinematic history clips and images from the future. The film itself is a love letter to cinema. And then the montage and the film Babylon begins to celebrate art and life and cinema itself! Through art, Manny becomes immortal embedded in celluloid film. So is Chazelle and his crew and actors of the film! Very meta! This movie reminded how much i love cinema and the reason of it! (Im a filmmaker too.)
As highly critical as I was with the artifice, tonal shifts, lack of nuance, rushed and disjointed story, and the kind of embarrassing heavy-handed ness of the movie, I absolutely loved it and was so thankful that I saw it on the large screen. I was impressed with how much it crammed into the film and how big it felt (at times feeling like a fast-paced Coen Brothers production, with the scruffiness of 90s independent cinema). I think the film is going to be divisive because it’s not sticking to a category that is easy to define. There’s a lot of stuff in the film that feels like it would cater to crowds that love sophomoric comedies. But then there’s the kind of Lynchian undertone that comes out of nowhere in the final hour. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the ride it took me on. This movie will definitely find its audience but one thing seems certain, it doesn’t seem to resonate with a general audience. And that is fine, I’d rather see more directors take these kind of swings than continue to pollute our world with the kind of forgettable movies nobody cares about. I also think some people may be expecting a reverential look at the 20s that is somewhere between Downton Abbey and Merchant Ivory films and they may hate all of the anachronistic explosiveness that bombards the screen during the first two hours. But despite all the messiness, I saw it at the theater twice and think this movie is going to become a beloved cult favorite, along the lines of something like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen or Hudsucker Proxy.
The commercials for this movie were poorly done, but the movie itself was pretty good. It’s very rambunctious & honestly, Manny was the character that resonated with me. In the end, he stood as a man who saw that he played a part in something that continued on without him, & it doesn’t matter if anyone else knows that.
I personally think Babylon is underappreciated. The first act was weak until the scene where Nellie takes 8 takes to do the scene. That's when I was hooked and enjoyed the chaos and emotional journey this film gave. Margot and Diego definitely carried the film and deserve praise.
Absolutely loved it. It was an experience and I enjoyed the ride. Felt like I came up with all these 20's Movie Stars and lived with them lol. Can't wait to buy it so I can watch it FADED AF !
I still feel sorry for Chazielle losing out Best Picture for Lala Land to Moonlight. He won best director, but really deserved to win both, but envelopes got mixed up & you know the rest. (Poor Warren Beatty). Chazielle is a film genius and knows how to make great films, based on that, the clips I have seen, & casting of this film and subject matter I'm sure this too is a creative Chazeille masterpiece. I look forward to seeing it. Margot Robbie looks wild here, but may give her best performance ever! Tour de force some critics say! You go girl! Pitt seems cool as always too...
@@mithras666 no, it was GREAT!!! A wonderfully heartfelt love letter to Los Angeles, musicals, & young love ruined by Hollywood dreams & commitments. The dance scenes are magical, the cinematography top notch, and actors Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling gave best performances of their young careers! She won Oscar for Best Actress. And Chazeille won Oscar for Best Director. So there!
@@tomgebarowski8156 false it was anti and even has a movie burned in it. It is one of the worse ever if it came out now it would end the same a dud. He is a very bad director and the ending here is a rip off of his other film due to he isn't creative nor anything enjoyable. He misses every important point about Babylon which was a real thing back then but not in CA but Germany.
I due time, while perhaps not having the same curve of recognition as something like Barry Lyndon, I think Babylon will be more appreciated. I've only watched it once when it came out, and it's managed to be in my head ever since. I'm sure I'm not the only one. The ending montage I find fantastic. It was overwhelming to watch in the theater and is honestly the purest love letter (a cliché term but applicable here) to cinema I've ever seen. We are Manny in the theater, that is us realising what we love. It's so unashamed of itself throughout, sometimes to a detrimental level, the montage suddenly transcending what we've just spent three hours seeing. Bullshit Hollywood, ruined lives, wasted hours, there's glory in all of it and in the stories and pictures that we've witnessed in our lifes.
I just avoided the movie, but your concise description is a game changer. This is the first time I have watched your channel. I liked it. A lot. The idea that red, blue, and green are used to convey or suggest emotion is not new, however in the examples shown, in particular the green was so beautifully done that it made me want to see the film. Also the script based on your review is far more nuanced and interesting than another “Babylon” morality tale. I love a good film review, and this one delivered. Thanks so much.
This is one of the great films so far this decade. By the end of the 2020s, it will be redeemed. Loud, brash, bold, endlessly inventive and completely crushing by the end, it throws everything Damien Chapelle knows about filmmaking into a massive cauldron and the result is something orgiastic. Nothing like it exists.
I love that you didn't dismiss the movie entirely. After all, Chazelle is hugely talented and there will likely be some missteps made along his career. There were many good things about the movie, and you put that into perspective.
I hesitated greatly to watch this after I heard reviews. I'm so glad I ignored the negative reviews and gave it a sit. It's a wild ride of visuals and emotions. I was deeply surprised with this movie. It has everything you want in an epic movie of this caliber. Highly recommended.
the ending was perfect because it was the proof his dream came true because he understood he made part of something bigger than him, that’s why he smiles through the nostalgia of his old life. the movie in general was so intense and emotionally involving. the picture and the acting was amazing. the only flaw this movie has is the plot which has some unnecessary scenes. i loved those scenes though. this is my favorite film because i didn’t know i could feel so many emotions in 3 hours. maybe the reason i love it is because i relate to the protagonist
I've seen it twice and I received more understanding on the second viewing. The Brad Pitt character, especially, made more sense the second time around. I think It's uneven but will be thought of very fondly in the next 20 years.
0:36 It's a testament to how bad Damien Chazelle is as an editor. Not as a film editor, but a script one. Babylon is utterly unfocused. It's *excellent* in minutes but then careens backwards and forwards and I think the problem all comes back to the format: this is a bad story to tell in a traditional Hollywood feature-length film. It SHOULD have been a Netflix miniseries. Breaking the story up into multiple episodes over a longer format would've allowed Chazelle to tell the story he wanted to at the pace he wanted to. I really like your effort to note the strengths of the theme, the use of color, and the ambition behind the whole production. A lot of artistry went into this and I personally really enjoy the soundtrack, the sets, and certain scenes; the contrast between the dynamic film production of the Silent Era and the restrictions when sound is introduced should be showcased in film history classes. But it's too decadent, too focused on shock, spectacle, and gross-out scenarios. Scenes like the upperclass party come off as hackneyed and eye-rollingly lecturing while all the Toby Maguire scenes could've been excised without loosing anything. None of this bolsters the central theme, only takes away. Nellie, Manny, and Jack are the central focus; Fay, Sidney, and Elinor are background stories but Chazelle tries to focus on them as well further muddying the waters and bloating the runtime. Themes are important but an audience won't connect with them if they're delivered poorly. It may be too soon to say, but I fear this film is destined to be remembered for its excesses more than for the universality of its characters. Those that do share clips of it will share the scenes of elephant shit and projectile vomit over the tender monologues and movie theater montage.
I really enjoyed the analysis, actually better than the movie. In the end the script was weak. If it had made the points you raised, it would have been great.
The directors work here reminds me of Quentin Tarantino and his ability to capture our attention but in a different manner (obviously). The sound design is what captures me + the ability to capture my attention at different and very wild scenes. This video makes a good point of explaining how lighting, music, and other aspects make it stand out. I thought it was amazing and a 4/5 for me. On my favorites list now.
It was fantastic. I even enjoyed the messy last hour, where the messages you broke down so effectively here are made very, very clear. That last hour, that maybe bit off more than it could chew, was all about the 30,000 ft. view. I thought it was actually necessary to pull it all together. But great analysis.
Other than the depravity, high snobiety, and glamour that i get people don't enjoy or relate too. The movie show us that time keeps moving, you will be left, you will miss the good old days, a happier time, so be a part of something bigger you can be proud off.
Coming out in winter of 2022 certainly didn’t help this film. No one really wanted to be in a theater and I get the feeling this movie will gain more appreciation as years go on. I just saw it on streaming and quite liked it.
I am so glad you mentioned Whiplash. I love this movie so much! I think Damien is a master of making an amazing movie ending. Whiplash, La La Land, Babylon, I love all of those ending ways!
I was very close to seeing this in the theater. The bad reviews was part of the reason I didn't. I got it on Blu-Ray and I really regret not seeing it in the theater.
Saw it tonight, it should have made more money at the box office. No it wasn’t a perfect film but i really enjoyed it and theres alot of great stuff as well as homages to other movies and events in film history. 7/10 stars
Unless you were a real follower of the early days of Hollywood of the 1920s and 1930s this one's going to be a little boring for you. That being said one has to realize what a decadent, wild and crazy time it was during the 20s and 30s in Hollywood. The Silent Movie era made stars out of so many. You really didn't have to be a great actor just someone that could come across on the screen and be believable. The industry was built on 20 minute comedy shorts and hour-long feature movies. Not a word was spoken just subtitles flashed up on a screen. With a film career back then came outrageous paydays. Hollywood just was one crazy, wild and decadent party back then... but when the talkies came out it ushered in a new era. An actor or actress that may have been a box office star one day was a nobody and was lost in the era of sound and later color. The movie Babylon is like a time capsule... it definitely puts a different spin on the Hollywood and the profession of acting as we know it today.
I love this! Great analysis! I personally loved it. I don’t care for negative heat it’s getting. It’s one of the best to me and am planning to watch it in the theater again before it’s gone. He is a master! I think all his film so far are winners!
I just watched Babylon on Star+ and I loved it. I thought about seeing it on theathers but I wasn't convinced by the trailer. I think Babylon's worst enemy was its marketing. I couldn't tell you the plot by just watching them. I agree with your opinion on the final montage, I thought it was too in your face. But I loved every other aspect of it: the themes, the acting, the costume, the music. I was deeply disturbed by Tobey Maguire's scenes and i loved them. By far, my favourite scene is the conversation between Jack and the movie critic. Such a good exposition on the central topic. A love letter to cinema and another love letter from Chazelle to LA.
The movie is good and decent and it only has few problems: 1. It could have been shorter. Some scenes were dragged too long. 2. Too many characters. The golden rule of screenwriting is don’t crowd ur script if u don’t have anything particular to do with them (and especially their contribution to protagonist) 3. Tobey Maguire was amazing in the last part but that part wasn’t needed. Script seemed completely inconsistent after that. 4. My guy who knows a guy knows a guy. This element works in Tarantino movies but not in this one. 5.Nellie was a bizarre character and Damien didn’t give us anything about her to sympathise for. I love assholes in movies/shows (like fleabag, everyone is asshole but u just can’t help but love them) but Nellie was an idiotic asshole and I didn’t understand while Manny was in love with her. His love for her was the most forced part of the script. Margot was amazing tho I ll give u that.
The Maguire part makes the whole movie stick together tematically. Narratively, it is a load of bullshit, definitely could have been done better, but it is neccesary.
I thought it was overly slow, droning and often abusively period speicific.... I found myself ignoring either the chaos in the background or the terrible script in the front ground. It was a challenge of attempting to watch a better movie within a terrible movie replete with the completey wrong moors of the day. 😊
The most underrated movie of 2022 imo. It really nails the feeling of decadence, of reaching the top just to fall down again. I hope it'll be rediscovered and revalueted in the future.
Happy New Year Friend 🎉 Hey if you could make a video on "Under the Silver Lake" and specifically a character in that film - "The Songwriter". That character creeps me out still after all this year , an absolute underrated film.
The opening scenes with the elephant are hard for some to take and some folks turn off there. The Elephant serves as a metaphor for Hollywood. It reprises it's roll as such a couple times later with even more blatant nuance.
When I started watching this, I thought of that movie "The Great Gatbsy" and then Tobey Maguire was in it at the end. I almost lost my mind and really thought I was a genius. Salute to the director and thanks for giving me something I can watch everyday and with anybody. I know for sure this movie will start s great time anywhere.
You did a fantastic job at wrapping up all my thoughts about this movie into one video. Just watched it for the first time last night because I wanted to get my own opinion when watching it after all the commotion died down.
I just watch it and it's fucking amazing brilliant provoking so much you can't put into word's. I see why people hated it the same way i see why most people can't handle an acid trip. This movie was like if Scorsese and Tarantino made a movie, idk how else to describe it. Beautifully chaotic with so much purpose
I have come to the conclusion that this is a horror movie. It lures you in with glamour, music and funny scenes, then it hits you with the cold hard reality of fame and the changing times.
i LOVED it !! ... i honestly was skeptical about spending 3 hours of my life into a time piece type of film --- The film was FANTASTIC !! everyhthing from the story . characters ... even the damn soundtrack was wild !! dont believe any negative reviews about this film -- i LOVED every bit of it ... especialy the dialogue between brad pitt and the typewriter lady ( cant remember her name ) . It made it to my top ten films of 20222 ! HIGHLY RECOMENDED !
I loved it and will rewatch it for years to come. Yes, it had its issues, but this movie was a wild, trippy ride. As a longtime sax player and jazz musician it was the soundtrack that stood out to me. I loved all the chaotic, fast-paced ragtime jazz, especially with the modern edge. It made me feel like I snorted all that coke too! 😅
Best review/break down I have listened too. Well done! Damien is like renown chef who presented us with a 3 hour 8 course meal. Some dishes were amazing, some we could have gone without. It was hard to know what was coming next… I just think he went a little too arthouse. It would have been a masterpiece if he would have kept the story and theme focused. Too many story lines that all didn’t connect in the end. Not enough for-shadowing and elements that all come together. That closing sequence showing future films took us out of the time period, it was cool and emotional but hurt the film as a whole. Stay in the time your in, unless you leave that time on more than one occasion. If you are going to break a rule at the end of the film- foreshadow the rule break earlier in the film. Meaning if we started with modern movies and then rewinded 100 years- the movie plays out. Then at the end we fast forward back to now. It all comes full circle and makes sense. Would have made the ending twice as powerful. Why show someone peeing on someone’s face at the beginning? It didn’t show morality of important characters..It was random and didn’t land. It was a mistake and he made multiple mistakes like that though out the film. Still a great director whom I respect a ton. He just made mistakes on this one- student film mistakes.
Love this take on the movie! I haven’t seen it yet (waiting for it to come out at home) but I appreciate you finding and exposing the deeper meaning hidden between the lines of the story
I'm thinking Babylon is like James Joyce's Ulysses. Probably packed with allusions most people don't get. I picked up right away the guy with the dead girl referred to Fatty Arbuckle. Nellie Laroy referred to the Singing in the Rain character Lina Lamont. Probably many other references I didn't get. From the beginning there were frequent sacrifices to Moloch. I think someone died to finish every movie. A guy accidentally catches a spear in the chest, to appease the Sun god. The man in the hot box dies to satisfy the thunder god. A suicide for the sea god. And Nellie sticks around for the lord of the Underworld to take his vengeance. Just grist for the mill. All in all, I really don't know what the movie's all about and don't think this video quite got it either. Would be interested in other opinions.
The great thing about this movie, is it exposes the depravity of Hollywood. Yes the movie depicts Hollywood in the late 1920s and early 30s it still shines a light on the behaviors the still continue today and on a much larger scale.
It's simply a great movie from the best director of the last 10 years. A picture masterpiece, a soundtrack masterpiece. One of the lately few movies worth watching in a cinema. If you love the good old cinema concept you can't dislike this movie. You may love it or not, it won't disappoint you.
You missed the point about the ending montage. The movie was mainly also about the art of films, about cinema and its power of let the common people forgetting their pain one moment and escape from their reality like no art could do before it at the time. The ending montage is cut from films that innovated, pionner, editing a moving picture to create a meaning, feelings and connections that no static images could give people back then. The way we see our lives like a movie sometimes, this self-conscious image of our life story, it's arguably a mindset created during XXe century. It changed the self-perception, self-visualisation, inner lives of people. It impregnated us when pionners created the code of a "moving picture". what it is today: Melies, The Great train robery avant-garde Dali movie, Hollywood silent era Babylon, Chaplin, European stuff (Dreyer, etc.). It's like a sample of my film art history class at university, really cinephile geek scholar stuffs. There is a shot with just color paint drop to tell the movies in color are coming, I guess?
Saw the trailer long time ago, just decided to watch it three months after release. I like it, my take: People love movies especially action packed movies but doesn't care about the process. That's why a movie about movie will end up unappreciated. Movies most of the time make up relatable scene and emotions to catch the audience and this movie doesn't, it's a movie from a time back when, a gatsby era. It's understandable this movie got mixed reviews about. As a movie enthusiast myself, to me this is paying tributes to the people that started this and their demise, love that. A good film, or any thing at all is to me something that will have their fair share of people that like it and people who hate it, no film is liked by everyone except a generic one. This is because that movie that can be liked by one but hated by another must do really well at that one thing for that audience.
When I first watched it, I was thinking about the movie for next few days. In my opinion that's what good movies do - make you think about them. So I vote for a cinematic masterpiece!
Dude if I had any idea that Babylon was made by the same guy who did Whiplash, I never would have skipped it. Thanks for the recommendation. Whiplash was the best movie I've seen in the past 10 years
I really loved this movie, and although the final montage feels a little out of context, I liked it too. That quick journey through technology applied to cinema by showcasing iconic movies was amazing to me.
A movie becomes a legend on its own merits ie storytelling. You can't force it. Star War, Godfather, Apocalypse Now I could go on. Storytelling "entertain first or your message falls on deaf ears"
6:01 this is just textbook film directing, the old half face is lit while the other half isnt trick of storytelling. never mind the color. but yes of course the blue does signify somehting.
I was reminded of Boogie Nights, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and the films of Ken Russell, with a slight dash of Baz Luhrmann and Tinto Brass. And I have no doubt that its polarizing nature DOES contribute to it being REAL cinema free from the constraints of the depressingly current market-saturated, brand-driven and creatively bankrupt mainstream. I have no doubt that this film will eventually be inducted into the Criterion Collection.
Well, I apologize for being somewhere in the middle, though I will happily state that I found it more engaging than most new films I've seen in a while. In my mind, where it stumbles is when it goes into "story" mode and does the men running after men shooting thing and the love thing. That whole "sit down with the boss" scene is a worthy trope for sure, but it wasn't done right and it broke the hypnotic rhythm of; boom spectacle; glimpse of personal story; boom spectacle: glimpse, and so on. Very condensed stuff, very interesting perspective. This also fucked with the ending, which would be great if the film didn't get a little lost in between. My other peeve is that it didn't do anything to mark the divide between the roaring 20'ies and the start of the great depression, which would have been felt everywhere. Both these two periods were very distinct and there's hardly been a starker contrast in history. The zeitgeist conveyance was a pretty big point I thought. The casting is also slightly weak maybe. Some were excellent, some didn't have the necessary gravitas in a film that was all about the magic from snappy moment to snappy moment. Other than that, it showed great promise and is undoubtedly underrated.
The final montage I think was a way to contrast the smiles and experiences of movie goers(kids, adults, lovers etc.), similar to the roaring applause that followed the first time they first heard sound on screen. Essentially, the movies will continue to adapt and delight movie goers, sadly at the expense of stars like Nelly and Jack
Babylon fits the same context as Reservoir Dogs, Blade Runner 1996, Pulp Fiction or 2001 Spce Oddesy. Which all gained a cult status several years after their release, for their innate artistry.
Well, Elvis first cut was 4 hours, but Baz reduced it to 2 hours and a half. So no need for 3 hours movies... I do not have a cinema in my nearness so I need a full day off to watch Babylon...
Well, it kind of deserve a day! I just came back from the second watch of Babylon in the theatre. Fortunately, I have a cinema at 1 mile from my home, but I'd go farther if it deserves. And Babylon truly deserves! Cheers from Ploiești!
Good points. I also did not like the pretentious montage at the end but this movie got its hooks in me a couple times making me feel a sadness & appreciation for life.
That 8 takes scene is absolutely fantastic
RIGHT! it was hilarious
The performance of everyone in that scene was phenomenal. Didn’t drop a single beat
Disasterpiece?
Do you mind if I coin a new word...Disasterpiece?
@@satan6548 No
We beg people to be creative. We groan when there's another reboot or super hero sequel. Or atleast I do. So when something like this movie comes along I don't get how people can bash it. I just walked out of it. I thought it was amazing. My 2 favorite parts was Nellies first movie with sound. And all of Tobey Maguire. Seriously like wtf was that. Hell of picture 2 thumbs up from me.
Just because something is original doesn't make it good.
@@chandlerredhead27 but it at least makes it intresting worth seeing
I rather watch a ambicious unique Disaster than your bang average run of the milk Comic Book Film like Black Adam or Wakanda Forever
@@chandlerredhead27 except this one was
@@DisasterArtist1997 Don't get me wrong, I HATE cookie cutter films pushed by the industry like you mentioned. I just think I might take them (or watching nothing) over seeing literally elephant shit and a bunch of self-serving Hollywood drivel
i seriously don’t understand how someone could like the tobey maguire part it’s so stupid and detached from the first parts of the movie it just made me angry
It was eye popping, jaw dropping, mesmerizing, maddening, and poignant experience. It was also heavenly as well as hellish. May seem messy/polarizing I get that but this was quite a movie. Despite the box office bombing, I really hope Damien Chazelle’s keeps making movies like this.
The entertainment industry is in a coma. Overproduction, low quality, wokeness, cliches .... how can it be any different?
It was really great I enjoyed it!
Same experience, yes!! Great movie!!
i hope not.. Super boring, left after 1,5h of torture.
@@4giistar BS
Seriously this movie is pretty damn good. I love how it represents the passage of time for other people, people who want to change and people who desperately hang onto their times. Bless this movie.
Yes!
I have not seen it and have no intention to. Hollywood shoots so much garbage that any kind of quality is unexpected
you like the discusting moments? wtf
@gdiwolverinemale2745 you should watch it. It was a very good movie
that's a really great way to sum it up!
I saw this movie alone in an empty theater after sneaking in some mini alcohol bottles and making my own makeshift cocktail. And I gotta say, it was one hell of a time. Loved it
How did your bladder survive 😮
when they started singing "singing in the rain" at the end i could feel the nostalgia that manny experienced, having been there during the original production. its like we lived the career with the characters. this is one of very few 3+ hour movies that managed to not be boring.
I saw this movie with maybe 5 other people at a late night showing. Best movie experience I’ve had in years - no kid crying in my ear and no one talking down below me. Hearing the five or six of us laugh at the same parts sounded and felt amazing without filling the theater full of it. It was without a doubt a VERY much needed and refreshing movie. I personally didn’t love all 100% of the movie, but my god was it entertaining from the first second to the last. Damien got to stretch his legs with this one and TRULY show us what he can do. I want more of this.
So the best quality of the movie was that you could watch it in isolation. Understood
Thats not at all what is being said…
i don't think it's funny to see discusting things or animal poops it wasn't funny
@@goodboystuff9700 I don't know what you usually watch but this movie, while sure having some graphic things, is faaar from being disruptive on this side. There are plenty of well known and appreciated movies with things way more disturbing and disgusting in. I don't get why people are shocked for so so little.
@@gdiwolverinemale2745 Cheap shot. He liked watching a movie on a big screen that took risks without the present day hazards that occur in movie theaters, today.
the movie is a masterpiece. after seeing twice i think i consider this my favorite movie from last year. my only issue that maybe they could have cut maybe 10 or so minutes like the party scenes could have been cut a tad shorter but other then that i loved this so much.
The opening party sequence is absolutely mind-blowing and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but yeah, some of the other sequences could be trimmed a bit. Still, I can easily ignore this for everything else the movie gives me.
It is a masterpiece. The story is much much deeper then people are giving credit for. They get caught up that it is a 3 hour orgy. The amount of detail, the color, the set piece, story, the sound, screen writing, and for sure the ending. It truly is a masterpiece that can be studied for years to come. It’s mind-blowing to think about it. It needs to be seen on the big screen and give people an opportunity to study it. Each frame is amazing.
@@ParzivalTheThird I agree. It blew my mind as well.
@@ParzivalTheThird seriously the party scene was insane on the big screen
Damn bruh you must be missing eyes. The pacing, plot, majority of the acting, and some cinematography were less than mediocre. The fact that anyone could would label this anything over disappointing is beyond me. Given, Babylon is not forgettable, but just memorable for all the wrong things. Once upon a time in hollywood is far better a movie than Babylon, and I do not consider once upon a time in hollywood to particularly impressive. There are SO MANY better movies from 2022 than babylon, for instance the Northman or All Quiet On The Western Front (which for me is the best picture of the year).
The critic who labeled Babylon 'a defecating elephant of a movie' got up and left after the defecating elephant scene, thereby missing MOST of the film's majesty.
I don’t get how anyone who loves film can hate the ending it’s one of the best endings ever it shows what the art of film has don’t over the years
I disagree. The movie already made that point when manny is watching singin in the rain. Shadowing all those film snippets was way over indulgent, I don’t think it needed all that. Great film though
It was a little on-the-nose, but it did fill me with emotions. T2 and Avatar kinda awkwardly stuck out though haha.
??? I think you should reconsider what film "hasnt had" over the years. There is quite literally nothing special, at least not in a positive way, about the beginning, middle, or end of this movie.
i personally dont think it was necessary a greater film would've let the movie speak the point for itself. feel like it should've just ended when manny is crying while watching the movie , that already tells enough
Haha!
What impressed me the most in this film were the rythm and score, as well as the sound mixing. It absolutely benefits from viewing on a big screen, but, more importantly, it benefits from surround sound. The way the trumpets get louder as the camera pans closer to them, the booming sound that makes the intercutting silent moments feel surreal, then the beat starting up again, to take you into a new wild ride; all of that almost made me feel like I was phisically moving through the scenes myself
My favorite scenes in the movie are the ones that show early film production, especially the ones in the desert where literally 15 films or more are being shot simultaneously. I believe the film production techniques were accurate, although I don’t think a cameraman would have been allowed to suffocate in his little blimp house. I appreciated the mention of the 2709 camera, quite a popular camera of the time period. And when I saw the “1927” graphic appear, I knew what was coming, the emergence of sound and The Jazz Singer. Although I loved those scenes I’d never consider Babylon a masterpiece.
Although I'd add a few things to that, I think that is one of the first balanced and fair reflections on the film that I have read here. I'd agree with you that it was good to see some of the technical side of filmmaking during that period of Hollywood and its development.
This movie gave the middle finger to the "real" Hollywood in all its dirt, grime and tragedy. I am traumatized by this movie. It's dramatic waves of dark OVERtones hit like a tsunami. Nothing in this movie was insidious nor gradual other than the looming fate of Nellie and Conrad. The second he starts walking down the long hotel corridor to his room, I knew he was going to end his life. The angle of the camera "peeking" into his room through the slightly ajar door was eerie. Nellie disappearing into the "darkness" was a haunting foreshadow of what would happen to her. The scenes with McKay were symbolic of the true underworld of Hollyweird that many of us know exists. Babylon is a profound punch in the gut. There is an element of this movie in every person's life.
For me, it was as soon as he gave the kid a tip. Generally, people who are depressed or are about to end their life start to become very giddy and happy, as well as give away many of their belongings and money as well
It’s a beautiful, beautiful movie.. it starts a bit slow and seems a bit pointless, but then midway it gains traction and at the end I personally couldn’t stop myself crying. I didn’t expect to be hit with how beautiful the idea behind the movie is. And the idea is - we live our lives and we die whether achieved something or not, but what lives on is the idea. The idea of how we lived, the idea that we pursued and potentially felt we never reached, the idea of who we are which lives on in others who follow the same patterns, the idea of life itself. And all of this is beautifully captured like on a movie film, and the metaphor at the end of the movie where he watches movies and sees his own life, as if he died and is already watching his life back to himself. The nostalgic beautiful sadness pushes the tears through your eyes, unstoppably.
well said
This movie is insane, way too long and kind of up it’s own ass but I loved it! Maybe I’m just a sucker for these Goodfellas/Boogie nights-esque type movies but I enjoyed even if it went too far or felt like it dragged on at certain points. Really intense. My favorite scene was definitely the one where the critic gossip lady tells Jack about how his star is fading and there’s nothing he can do about it but how his films will forever immortalize him.
Id rather watch this again for 3 hours than that atrocity of a movie "Avatar 2: The Way of Water. That movie didnt need a 2nd one. Or 3rd or 4th which they've already started shooting for. The visuals were good but god they ruined the story. What a steaming pile of shit James Cameron made.
@@fabledgames9695 Man, i swear Avatar 2 was just giant blue people messing with fluorescent glowy plants and fish for hours. Boring and the story did not make sense and went nowhere
And Jack sped up his immortalization through suicide.
@@fabledgames9695 you’re the exact type of pretentious film snob that this movie is made for
I thought it was great. Chazelle understands the language of cinema and is not afraid to jump into the deep end. I loved his use of color, pacing, sound, music, juxtaposition, costume, set. He is fantastic with energy - the frenetic scenes are perfect and how that is contrasted later is used brilliantly to reflect changing Hollywood. There was a great use of humor as counterpoint to the tragedy.
Think it's one of the best movies I've seen in awhile. Thank you to everyone involved with this project in creating something original and thought provoking.
singing in the rain was a sort of reply to sunset boulevard, a much darker depiction of the effect on actors with the change from silents to talkies. I loved Babylon. It did get very dark, but it was memorably crazy, sad and fun.
not just about the sun setting on people, but how that image can be captured and reportrayed as magic and beautiful, despite the messy reality of its history
there were a lot of things I enjoyed about this film. mainly the Tobey maguire scene, Nellie's first sound movie, and the snake scene. but it does kind of go on for too long. and it's weird that the ending montage is a way for the film to live through other films success. overall I don't regret seeing it but it will be a while before I watch it again
People are too harsh. Great movie great message. We all face our own mortality.
The ending montage is a visual depiction of the truths mouthed by Elinor to help Jack understand his place, his role... his hurting. The movie Babylon is great because it teaches, reminds and warns us all about universal reality... all in a very entertaining way. I'm nobody... just a guy who retired five years ago and suffered enormously when I realised that I was being treated the same way I treated the old farts who retired before me. Just clean out and clear out and, you know, have a nice life. Chazelle's movie making theme is a microcosm of anything... everything. It is universal, this idea is enormous if you let it settle in a bit. I mean Chazelle clobbers us over the head with the message but nobody I know gets it... yet.
This film is about art itself and therefore life, yes! The beginning coke talk with Nellie.
There director Chazelle, through Manny's mouth explains his passion for cinema and how he wanted to become a part of something bigger! In the end we see the future of cinema and cinema connects people one to another through empathy, Manny (director) realizes he is not alone and that his work was WORTH it. That's why his melancholic tears turn into a smile in awe. He sees the transition he literally experienced in the industry inside an another era film he watches in the theathre.
He realizes the meaning of cinema and art there. And we see the cinematic history clips and images from the future. The film itself is a love letter to cinema.
And then the montage and the film Babylon begins to celebrate art and life and cinema itself! Through art, Manny becomes immortal embedded in celluloid film. So is Chazelle and his crew and actors of the film!
Very meta! This movie reminded how much i love cinema and the reason of it! (Im a filmmaker too.)
As highly critical as I was with the artifice, tonal shifts, lack of nuance, rushed and disjointed story, and the kind of embarrassing heavy-handed ness of the movie, I absolutely loved it and was so thankful that I saw it on the large screen. I was impressed with how much it crammed into the film and how big it felt (at times feeling like a fast-paced Coen Brothers production, with the scruffiness of 90s independent cinema). I think the film is going to be divisive because it’s not sticking to a category that is easy to define. There’s a lot of stuff in the film that feels like it would cater to crowds that love sophomoric comedies. But then there’s the kind of Lynchian undertone that comes out of nowhere in the final hour. And I couldn’t stop thinking about the ride it took me on.
This movie will definitely find its audience but one thing seems certain, it doesn’t seem to resonate with a general audience. And that is fine, I’d rather see more directors take these kind of swings than continue to pollute our world with the kind of forgettable movies nobody cares about. I also think some people may be expecting a reverential look at the 20s that is somewhere between Downton Abbey and Merchant Ivory films and they may hate all of the anachronistic explosiveness that bombards the screen during the first two hours. But despite all the messiness, I saw it at the theater twice and think this movie is going to become a beloved cult favorite, along the lines of something like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen or Hudsucker Proxy.
Repent rn
Never
It’s audience, is directed towards open minded film lovers, simple!
The commercials for this movie were poorly done, but the movie itself was pretty good. It’s very rambunctious & honestly, Manny was the character that resonated with me. In the end, he stood as a man who saw that he played a part in something that continued on without him, & it doesn’t matter if anyone else knows that.
I personally think Babylon is underappreciated. The first act was weak until the scene where Nellie takes 8 takes to do the scene. That's when I was hooked and enjoyed the chaos and emotional journey this film gave. Margot and Diego definitely carried the film and deserve praise.
Absolutely loved it. It was an experience and I enjoyed the ride. Felt like I came up with all these 20's Movie Stars and lived with them lol. Can't wait to buy it so I can watch it FADED AF !
I still feel sorry for Chazielle losing out Best Picture for Lala Land to Moonlight.
He won best director, but really deserved to win both, but envelopes got mixed up & you know the rest. (Poor Warren Beatty). Chazielle is a film genius and knows how to make great films, based on that, the clips I have seen, & casting of this film and subject matter I'm sure this too is a creative Chazeille masterpiece. I look forward to seeing it. Margot Robbie looks wild here, but may give her best performance ever! Tour de force some critics say! You go girl! Pitt seems cool as always too...
lala land wasnt good
@@mithras666 no, it was GREAT!!!
A wonderfully heartfelt love letter to Los Angeles, musicals, & young love ruined by Hollywood dreams & commitments.
The dance scenes are magical, the cinematography top notch, and actors Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling gave best performances of their young careers! She won Oscar for Best Actress. And Chazeille won Oscar for Best Director.
So there!
@@tomgebarowski8156 false it was anti and even has a movie burned in it. It is one of the worse ever if it came out now it would end the same a dud.
He is a very bad director and the ending here is a rip off of his other film due to he isn't creative nor anything enjoyable. He misses every important point about Babylon which was a real thing back then but not in CA but Germany.
Moonlight was a better film. Sorry.
I due time, while perhaps not having the same curve of recognition as something like Barry Lyndon, I think Babylon will be more appreciated. I've only watched it once when it came out, and it's managed to be in my head ever since. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
The ending montage I find fantastic. It was overwhelming to watch in the theater and is honestly the purest love letter (a cliché term but applicable here) to cinema I've ever seen. We are Manny in the theater, that is us realising what we love. It's so unashamed of itself throughout, sometimes to a detrimental level, the montage suddenly transcending what we've just spent three hours seeing. Bullshit Hollywood, ruined lives, wasted hours, there's glory in all of it and in the stories and pictures that we've witnessed in our lifes.
I just avoided the movie, but your concise description is a game changer. This is the first time I have watched your channel. I liked it. A lot. The idea that red, blue, and green are used to convey or suggest emotion is not new, however in the examples shown, in particular the green was so beautifully done that it made me want to see the film. Also the script based on your review is far more nuanced and interesting than another “Babylon” morality tale. I love a good film review, and this one delivered. Thanks so much.
This is one of the great films so far this decade. By the end of the 2020s, it will be redeemed. Loud, brash, bold, endlessly inventive and completely crushing by the end, it throws everything Damien Chapelle knows about filmmaking into a massive cauldron and the result is something orgiastic. Nothing like it exists.
I love that you didn't dismiss the movie entirely. After all, Chazelle is hugely talented and there will likely be some missteps made along his career. There were many good things about the movie, and you put that into perspective.
I hesitated greatly to watch this after I heard reviews. I'm so glad I ignored the negative reviews and gave it a sit. It's a wild ride of visuals and emotions. I was deeply surprised with this movie. It has everything you want in an epic movie of this caliber. Highly recommended.
the ending was perfect because it was the proof his dream came true because he understood he made part of something bigger than him, that’s why he smiles through the nostalgia of his old life. the movie in general was so intense and emotionally involving. the picture and the acting was amazing. the only flaw this movie has is the plot which has some unnecessary scenes. i loved those scenes though. this is my favorite film because i didn’t know i could feel so many emotions in 3 hours. maybe the reason i love it is because i relate to the protagonist
I've seen it twice and I received more understanding on the second viewing. The Brad Pitt character, especially, made more sense the second time around. I think It's uneven but will be thought of very fondly in the next 20 years.
0:36 It's a testament to how bad Damien Chazelle is as an editor.
Not as a film editor, but a script one. Babylon is utterly unfocused. It's *excellent* in minutes but then careens backwards and forwards and I think the problem all comes back to the format: this is a bad story to tell in a traditional Hollywood feature-length film. It SHOULD have been a Netflix miniseries. Breaking the story up into multiple episodes over a longer format would've allowed Chazelle to tell the story he wanted to at the pace he wanted to.
I really like your effort to note the strengths of the theme, the use of color, and the ambition behind the whole production. A lot of artistry went into this and I personally really enjoy the soundtrack, the sets, and certain scenes; the contrast between the dynamic film production of the Silent Era and the restrictions when sound is introduced should be showcased in film history classes.
But it's too decadent, too focused on shock, spectacle, and gross-out scenarios. Scenes like the upperclass party come off as hackneyed and eye-rollingly lecturing while all the Toby Maguire scenes could've been excised without loosing anything. None of this bolsters the central theme, only takes away. Nellie, Manny, and Jack are the central focus; Fay, Sidney, and Elinor are background stories but Chazelle tries to focus on them as well further muddying the waters and bloating the runtime.
Themes are important but an audience won't connect with them if they're delivered poorly. It may be too soon to say, but I fear this film is destined to be remembered for its excesses more than for the universality of its characters. Those that do share clips of it will share the scenes of elephant shit and projectile vomit over the tender monologues and movie theater montage.
Beautiful Chaos! I feel like so much of this, life and all of the characters and themes can be summed up in the microcosm of the snake fight scene...
I really enjoyed the analysis, actually better than the movie. In the end the script was weak. If it had made the points you raised, it would have been great.
Absolutely loved it! Saw it 3 times in the theater, vulgar, offensive, disgusting and I loved every minute!
The directors work here reminds me of Quentin Tarantino and his ability to capture our attention but in a different manner (obviously). The sound design is what captures me + the ability to capture my attention at different and very wild scenes. This video makes a good point of explaining how lighting, music, and other aspects make it stand out. I thought it was amazing and a 4/5 for me. On my favorites list now.
It was fantastic. I even enjoyed the messy last hour, where the messages you broke down so effectively here are made very, very clear. That last hour, that maybe bit off more than it could chew, was all about the 30,000 ft. view. I thought it was actually necessary to pull it all together. But great analysis.
Other than the depravity, high snobiety, and glamour that i get people don't enjoy or relate too. The movie show us that time keeps moving, you will be left, you will miss the good old days, a happier time, so be a part of something bigger you can be proud off.
I streamed this movie, expecting a dud but was pleasantly surprised. The marketing was a dud.
Coming out in winter of 2022 certainly didn’t help this film. No one really wanted to be in a theater and I get the feeling this movie will gain more appreciation as years go on. I just saw it on streaming and quite liked it.
I am so glad you mentioned Whiplash. I love this movie so much! I think Damien is a master of making an amazing movie ending. Whiplash, La La Land, Babylon, I love all of those ending ways!
I was very close to seeing this in the theater. The bad reviews was part of the reason I didn't. I got it on Blu-Ray and I really regret not seeing it in the theater.
A great, misunderstood, & underrated film. I think time will be very kind to this film. I was blown away by it.
I've seen over 70 movies last year in 2022, Babylon will surely make my Top 10 best of the year list.
The best 2022 Hollywood movie. In Babylon, you really have everything everywhere all at once!
Saw it tonight, it should have made more money at the box office. No it wasn’t a perfect film but i really enjoyed it and theres alot of great stuff as well as homages to other movies and events in film history. 7/10 stars
Unless you were a real follower of the early days of Hollywood of the 1920s and 1930s this one's going to be a little boring for you.
That being said one has to realize what a decadent, wild and crazy time it was during the 20s and 30s in Hollywood.
The Silent Movie era made stars out of so many. You really didn't have to be a great actor just someone that could come across on the screen and be believable.
The industry was built on 20 minute comedy shorts and hour-long feature movies.
Not a word was spoken just subtitles flashed up on a screen.
With a film career back then came outrageous paydays.
Hollywood just was one crazy, wild and decadent party back then... but when the talkies came out it ushered in a new era.
An actor or actress that may have been a box office star one day was a nobody and was lost in the era of sound and later color.
The movie Babylon is like a time capsule... it definitely puts a different spin on the Hollywood and the profession of acting as we know it today.
I love this! Great analysis! I personally loved it. I don’t care for negative heat it’s getting. It’s one of the best to me and am planning to watch it in the theater again before it’s gone. He is a master! I think all his film so far are winners!
I just watched Babylon on Star+ and I loved it. I thought about seeing it on theathers but I wasn't convinced by the trailer. I think Babylon's worst enemy was its marketing. I couldn't tell you the plot by just watching them.
I agree with your opinion on the final montage, I thought it was too in your face. But I loved every other aspect of it: the themes, the acting, the costume, the music. I was deeply disturbed by Tobey Maguire's scenes and i loved them. By far, my favourite scene is the conversation between Jack and the movie critic. Such a good exposition on the central topic.
A love letter to cinema and another love letter from Chazelle to LA.
The movie is good and decent and it only has few problems:
1. It could have been shorter. Some scenes were dragged too long.
2. Too many characters. The golden rule of screenwriting is don’t crowd ur script if u don’t have anything particular to do with them (and especially their contribution to protagonist)
3. Tobey Maguire was amazing in the last part but that part wasn’t needed. Script seemed completely inconsistent after that.
4. My guy who knows a guy knows a guy. This element works in Tarantino movies but not in this one.
5.Nellie was a bizarre character and Damien didn’t give us anything about her to sympathise for. I love assholes in movies/shows (like fleabag, everyone is asshole but u just can’t help but love them) but Nellie was an idiotic asshole and I didn’t understand while Manny was in love with her. His love for her was the most forced part of the script. Margot was amazing tho I ll give u that.
The Maguire part makes the whole movie stick together tematically. Narratively, it is a load of bullshit, definitely could have been done better, but it is neccesary.
I thought it was overly slow, droning and often abusively period speicific....
I found myself ignoring either the chaos in the background or the terrible script in the front ground.
It was a challenge of attempting to watch a better movie within a terrible movie replete with the completey wrong moors of the day. 😊
The most underrated movie of 2022 imo. It really nails the feeling of decadence, of reaching the top just to fall down again. I hope it'll be rediscovered and revalueted in the future.
Not my cup of tea I found it hard to stay focused on the movie which meant it felt like it went on forever lol
While the characters wanted it to go on forever, I was begging for it to end.
Happy New Year Friend 🎉
Hey if you could make a video on "Under the Silver Lake" and specifically a character in that film - "The Songwriter". That character creeps me out still after all this year , an absolute underrated film.
Love that movie, and that scene in particular is incredible.
The opening scenes with the elephant are hard for some to take and some folks turn off there. The Elephant serves as a metaphor for Hollywood. It reprises it's roll as such a couple times later with even more blatant nuance.
thank god there's at least anyone talking about this movie. god the financial and critical reception fucking breaks my heart 😭
This analysis made me cry a little. The theme of the movie is so relatable and sad
When I started watching this, I thought of that movie "The Great Gatbsy" and then Tobey Maguire was in it at the end. I almost lost my mind and really thought I was a genius. Salute to the director and thanks for giving me something I can watch everyday and with anybody. I know for sure this movie will start s great time anywhere.
You did a fantastic job at wrapping up all my thoughts about this movie into one video. Just watched it for the first time last night because I wanted to get my own opinion when watching it after all the commotion died down.
I just watch it and it's fucking amazing brilliant provoking so much you can't put into word's. I see why people hated it the same way i see why most people can't handle an acid trip. This movie was like if Scorsese and Tarantino made a movie, idk how else to describe it. Beautifully chaotic with so much purpose
Babylon was literally just the rated r version of singing in the rain.
It said nothing new, it was just yet another "Hollywood baby"
I have come to the conclusion that this is a horror movie. It lures you in with glamour, music and funny scenes, then it hits you with the cold hard reality of fame and the changing times.
i LOVED it !! ... i honestly was skeptical about spending 3 hours of my life into a time piece type of film --- The film was FANTASTIC !! everyhthing from the story . characters ... even the damn soundtrack was wild !!
dont believe any negative reviews about this film -- i LOVED every bit of it ... especialy the dialogue between brad pitt and the typewriter lady ( cant remember her name ) . It made it to my top ten films of 20222 !
HIGHLY RECOMENDED !
I must see this movie. Thank you for explanation and all for comments.
I loved it and will rewatch it for years to come. Yes, it had its issues, but this movie was a wild, trippy ride. As a longtime sax player and jazz musician it was the soundtrack that stood out to me. I loved all the chaotic, fast-paced ragtime jazz, especially with the modern edge. It made me feel like I snorted all that coke too! 😅
Best review/break down I have listened too. Well done! Damien is like renown chef who presented us with a 3 hour 8 course meal. Some dishes were amazing, some we could have gone without. It was hard to know what was coming next… I just think he went a little too arthouse. It would have been a masterpiece if he would have kept the story and theme focused. Too many story lines that all didn’t connect in the end. Not enough for-shadowing and elements that all come together. That closing sequence showing future films took us out of the time period, it was cool and emotional but hurt the film as a whole. Stay in the time your in, unless you leave that time on more than one occasion.
If you are going to break a rule at the end of the film- foreshadow the rule break earlier in the film. Meaning if we started with modern movies and then rewinded 100 years- the movie plays out. Then at the end we fast forward back to now. It all comes full circle and makes sense. Would have made the ending twice as powerful.
Why show someone peeing on someone’s face at the beginning? It didn’t show morality of important characters..It was random and didn’t land. It was a mistake and he made multiple mistakes like that though out the film. Still a great director whom I respect a ton. He just made mistakes on this one- student film mistakes.
Love this take on the movie! I haven’t seen it yet (waiting for it to come out at home) but I appreciate you finding and exposing the deeper meaning hidden between the lines of the story
Go support it at the cinema :(
I'm thinking Babylon is like James Joyce's Ulysses. Probably packed with allusions most people don't get. I picked up right away the guy with the dead girl referred to Fatty Arbuckle. Nellie Laroy referred to the Singing in the Rain character Lina Lamont. Probably many other references I didn't get. From the beginning there were frequent sacrifices to Moloch. I think someone died to finish every movie. A guy accidentally catches a spear in the chest, to appease the Sun god. The man in the hot box dies to satisfy the thunder god. A suicide for the sea god. And Nellie sticks around for the lord of the Underworld to take his vengeance. Just grist for the mill. All in all, I really don't know what the movie's all about and don't think this video quite got it either. Would be interested in other opinions.
The great thing about this movie, is it exposes the depravity of Hollywood. Yes the movie depicts Hollywood in the late 1920s and early 30s it still shines a light on the behaviors the still continue today and on a much larger scale.
Movie masterpiece! There are so many takeaways from the film and it was never boring. Two thumbs way up!
Babylon is a masterpiece. It was not what critics expected. It is much more than that. A real love letter to the cinema of old.
It's simply a great movie from the best director of the last 10 years. A picture masterpiece, a soundtrack masterpiece. One of the lately few movies worth watching in a cinema. If you love the good old cinema concept you can't dislike this movie. You may love it or not, it won't disappoint you.
The casting and acting, the plot, the supporting actors, the coloring and cinematography, the costumes. Amazing.
Damien Chazelle swung for the fences but instead hit a sloppy but effective inside-the-park home run.
You missed the point about the ending montage. The movie was mainly also about the art of films, about cinema and its power of let the common people forgetting their pain one moment and escape from their reality like no art could do before it at the time. The ending montage is cut from films that innovated, pionner, editing a moving picture to create a meaning, feelings and connections that no static images could give people back then. The way we see our lives like a movie sometimes, this self-conscious image of our life story, it's arguably a mindset created during XXe century. It changed the self-perception, self-visualisation, inner lives of people. It impregnated us when pionners created the code of a "moving picture". what it is today: Melies, The Great train robery avant-garde Dali movie, Hollywood silent era Babylon, Chaplin, European stuff (Dreyer, etc.). It's like a sample of my film art history class at university, really cinephile geek scholar stuffs. There is a shot with just color paint drop to tell the movies in color are coming, I guess?
It's a Master-saster!! I liked it, especially Robbie, Calva and that climactic montage. Mess of a movie, but fun.
Totally a masterpiece and my favourite film of the past few years
Saw the trailer long time ago, just decided to watch it three months after release. I like it, my take:
People love movies especially action packed movies but doesn't care about the process. That's why a movie about movie will end up unappreciated. Movies most of the time make up relatable scene and emotions to catch the audience and this movie doesn't, it's a movie from a time back when, a gatsby era. It's understandable this movie got mixed reviews about.
As a movie enthusiast myself, to me this is paying tributes to the people that started this and their demise, love that.
A good film, or any thing at all is to me something that will have their fair share of people that like it and people who hate it, no film is liked by everyone except a generic one. This is because that movie that can be liked by one but hated by another must do really well at that one thing for that audience.
When I first watched it, I was thinking about the movie for next few days. In my opinion that's what good movies do - make you think about them. So I vote for a cinematic masterpiece!
It's a Masterpiece 🏆
I freaking loved this movie watched it with a friend and we both walked out amazed. Would totally recommend personally lol
It was Great!!
I couldnt believe i was sleeping on this movie. Loved everything about it
This movie was absolutely amazing in today’s film the ending scene in the theater was absolutely amazing and i wish it was longer
It was emotional
After some years, this film will become a fully recognized masterpiece. Its just need time. Like a vine
Dude if I had any idea that Babylon was made by the same guy who did Whiplash, I never would have skipped it. Thanks for the recommendation. Whiplash was the best movie I've seen in the past 10 years
I really loved this movie, and although the final montage feels a little out of context, I liked it too. That quick journey through technology applied to cinema by showcasing iconic movies was amazing to me.
A movie becomes a legend on its own merits ie storytelling. You can't force it. Star War, Godfather, Apocalypse Now I could go on. Storytelling "entertain first or your message falls on deaf ears"
6:01 this is just textbook film directing, the old half face is lit while the other half isnt trick of storytelling. never mind the color.
but yes of course the blue does signify somehting.
I was reminded of Boogie Nights, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and the films of Ken Russell, with a slight dash of Baz Luhrmann and Tinto Brass. And I have no doubt that its polarizing nature DOES contribute to it being REAL cinema free from the constraints of the depressingly current market-saturated, brand-driven and creatively bankrupt mainstream. I have no doubt that this film will eventually be inducted into the Criterion Collection.
This is a Masterpiece. I've been watching it everyday after work before something else new.
Well, I apologize for being somewhere in the middle, though I will happily state that I found it more engaging than most new films I've seen in a while.
In my mind, where it stumbles is when it goes into "story" mode and does the men running after men shooting thing and the love thing. That whole "sit down with the boss" scene is a worthy trope for sure, but it wasn't done right and it broke the hypnotic rhythm of; boom spectacle; glimpse of personal story; boom spectacle: glimpse, and so on. Very condensed stuff, very interesting perspective. This also fucked with the ending, which would be great if the film didn't get a little lost in between.
My other peeve is that it didn't do anything to mark the divide between the roaring 20'ies and the start of the great depression, which would have been felt everywhere. Both these two periods were very distinct and there's hardly been a starker contrast in history. The zeitgeist conveyance was a pretty big point I thought.
The casting is also slightly weak maybe. Some were excellent, some didn't have the necessary gravitas in a film that was all about the magic from snappy moment to snappy moment. Other than that, it showed great promise and is undoubtedly underrated.
The final montage I think was a way to contrast the smiles and experiences of movie goers(kids, adults, lovers etc.), similar to the roaring applause that followed the first time they first heard sound on screen. Essentially, the movies will continue to adapt and delight movie goers, sadly at the expense of stars like Nelly and Jack
Cinema Paradiso did it better
Just finished watching this movie.
A MASTERPIECE
Babylon fits the same context as Reservoir Dogs, Blade Runner 1996, Pulp Fiction or 2001 Spce Oddesy. Which all gained a cult status several years after their release, for their innate artistry.
Pulp Fiction was a hit right out of the gate.
Well, Elvis first cut was 4 hours, but Baz reduced it to 2 hours and a half. So no need for 3 hours movies... I do not have a cinema in my nearness so I need a full day off to watch Babylon...
Well, it kind of deserve a day! I just came back from the second watch of Babylon in the theatre. Fortunately, I have a cinema at 1 mile from my home, but I'd go farther if it deserves. And Babylon truly deserves! Cheers from Ploiești!
Good points. I also did not like the pretentious montage at the end but this movie got its hooks in me a couple times making me feel a sadness & appreciation for life.