Babylon

A korai Hollywood szubjektív módon történő irreleváns és esztétikailag elrugaszkodott ábrázolása egy sokszor látott (Brad Pitt), unalmas (Diego Calva) és idegesítő (Margot Robbie) karakterekkel a főszerepekben. Chazelle ezúttal túllőtt a célon. Ha nem lennének a kísérő jazzbetétek, rá sem ismernénk ebben a filmben. A vad bulik és a hektikus filmezés szórakoztató, de már ebben is érezhető a hatalmas teatralitás. Az első hangos filmjelenet forgatását bemutató jelenet a legjobb az egész filmben, mind csattanójában, mind mozis dimenziójában. De amint a túl hosszúra nyúlt felvételek átváltanak végzetes siránkozásba, hogy nem képes haladni a korral, fokozatosan lejtőre kerül, egészen a "LA shit hole"-ig, vagyis a film leginkább „WTF” jelenetéig. (2023.03.06)

I needed some time to process Babylon. After getting home from the cinema, I had to unwind, sleep, dream some nice movie dreams (which I did), wake up, take a walk through the frosty landscape to work, and take a deep breath to fully grasp what I had witnessed. Babylon is an impressive film. It tells the story of Hollywood’s silent era through the lives of three different characters, with Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and Diego Calva delivering stellar performances. While Pitt and Robbie push emotional boundaries, Calva, as a newcomer, is a revelation. These three stories weave together, exploring a film era that holds a special place under the sun. The opening half-hour prologue sets the tone. The camera pans through a house party hosted by a studio mogul, showcasing pure, unfiltered decadence. You’ll wish you had more than two eyes to capture everything happening on screen. After this wild intro, the main story unfolds, diving into period Hollywood and referencing various personalities of the time. Each scene offers something new and unexpected. The film is bolstered by a fantastic score that sometimes borrows from La La Land, which I didn’t mind at all, and humor that had me in stitches. The second act turns significantly darker, leading to a finale that is a true cinematic orgasm. Witnessing the premiere was an incredible experience, and I think Babylon will resonate with me for a long time. (2023.01.19)

Babylon can make a very impressive first impression. Within the opening thirty minutes, Damien Chazelle serves up physical humour that even Dumb and Dumber would be proud of and a wild orgy of fun filled with sex, cocaine, alcohol, loud music and plenty of reasons for anyone who despises Hollywood to despise it even more. The Wolf of Wall Street would probably walk away from this party disgusted halfway through. But this is where we meet several protagonists who will spend the next few years trying to carve out a little fame, fortune, wealth or respect in Hollywood. And far from all of them succeed. Babylon looks like a grand Luhrmann-type film at first glance, but it's only superficial. Chazelle knows very well how to make the viewer admire his depiction of Hollywood in the 1920s and 30s on the one hand and despise it on the other. He knows how to make his characters laugh, but at the same time make the viewer worry about them, wish them luck or watch their slow, unavoidable fall. And while it looks truly spectacular – not only during the lavish parties, but even during the actual filming of one small scene, which the director manages to turn into an absurd grotesque – at its core this epic drama is actually a rather intimate story of people who have been "there" for a while, had a chance to create dreams and didn't notice that their own lives were turning into a nightmare. Great film. (2023.01.05)

I guess I'm too old for this kind of conceptually and dramaturgically disjointed and incoherent films, where nothing works and the mess on the screen slaps you so hard that you're completely numb and tired at the end. The only thing that works a little bit is the references to old classics, but these days they can emotionally enrich you incomparably more and they only need half the running time. This looks like it wasn't even made by Damien Chazelle, but by some egomaniac who merely needed to propel himself over his supposed genius. The production design and music are top notch, the should by shat on elephant shit and flushed. (2023.09.06)

“Never have I seen such a maelstrom of bad taste and sheer magic.” Two feature films in one, each about something different. One is riveting, bold, frantic, brash; like a Mad Max: Fury Road of the film industry during the silent era. The other is also very good, but classic in themes and concept. It's about nostalgia for bygone times, inevitable progress and the love of cinema. Both are superb, though each in their own way. The first is an ocean liner better, for it is purely Chazelle's. The latter, for all its qualities, comes across as "merely" Chazelle's respectful homage to Sunset Blvd., Cinema Paradiso and the like. The worst thing for both films, however, is that they pretend to be one, which doesn’t help either of them. (2023.05.28)