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A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 23 december 2022
The silent film era roars again in ‘Babylon’

By JAKE COYLE themselves the day after
AP Film Writer the party. There is so much
“Perhaps the ballyhoo more to come after these
meant nothing,” Kevin scenes: the epochal arrival
Brownlow wrote in his defin- of “The Jazz Singer;” Nellie’s
ing history of the silent film farcical first try on a sound
era, “The Parade’s Gone stage; a nighttime dance
By…” with a poisonous snake;
It’s probably true that even Jack’s painful slide out of
avid moviegoers have in- the limelight, followed by
creasingly drifted away his come-to-Jesus moment
from the films of what with Elinor (“It’s bigger than
Brownlow called, with you,” she tells him of the
good reason, “the richest in movies); a late misjudged
cinema’s history.” In 1952, plunge into a dark Los An-
the Sight and Sound poll of geles underworld with a
critics had seven silents in mob boss played creepily
the top 10 films of all time. by Tobey Maguire; a leap
The recent, much debated ahead to a 1950s movie
Sight and Sound list had just theater playing “Singin’ in
one. the Rain.”
In “Babylon,” Damien Cha- Some of these scenes (the
zelle’s feverish and sprawl- sound stage, Elinor’s mo-
ing celebration of those ment) are terrific. Much is
halcyon Hollywood days overcooked. “Babylon” is
and their abrupt termina- never quite rooted in either
tion, the director of “La La Nellie or Manny, whose arcs
Land” has, with orgiastic feel increasingly dictated
zeal, sought to bring back This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Margot Robbie, left, and Diego Calva in by the film’s real narrative
“Babylon.”
the ballyhoo. Associated Press engine, Hollywood history.
Yet Chazelle’s three-plus But the best of “Babylon” is
hour extravaganza isn’t Cinema will be tamed for thing to reckon with, and the industry, and Nellie La there, a couple hours ear-
the dutiful, nostalgic ode only so long; the parade the kind of ambitious swing Roy (Margot Robbie, in an lier, at the carnivalesque
you might expect of such will go on. that a young director of tal- echo of her performance Kinoscope lot in the desert.
a Tinseltown period piece. This is, to be sure, not a ent deserves credit for dar- in “Once Upon a Time ... It’s a mad moviemaking
It’s much messier and more strictly accurate history. ing. in Hollywood”), a young nirvana, with films being
interesting than that. In Chazelle has taken a “print We start in Bel Air, which in actress trying to break into shot all over and many of
resurrecting the silent era the legend” approach to 1926 is almost comically ru- the movies. She’s sure of the participants women or
and the onset of the talk- ‘20s Hollywood, drawing ral. In long groves of trees a it. “You don’t become a people of color a reminder
ies, “Babylon,” like Stan- partly from the pre-code fixer named Manny (Diego star,” she tells Manny. “You that the early days of film
ley Donen’s “Singin’ in the scandals and myths of Ken- Calva, an arresting break- either are one or you ain’t.” were in some ways more
Rain” before it, has trained neth Anger’s “Hollywood through) is cajoling work- In its ecstatic early scenes, open and inclusive than
its focus on a transitional Babylon.” His film, a romp ers to help him get an ele- “Babylon” throbs with their the Hollywood eras that
moment in moving images, and tragedy at once, is phant up the hill for a mam- almost primal showbiz as- came later.
painting a picture of how sometimes enthrallingly, of- moth party to be thrown by pirations. “To be part of A Dorothy Azner-like film-
technological progress ten exhaustingly played at a movie mogul (Jeff Gar- something bigger,” Manny maker directs Nellie, who
doesn’t always equal im- a manic pitch, careening lin). A spot on the guest list says. proves a natural. Up the hill,
provement. from set piece to set piece. (“I heard something about They’re quickly on their Manny strives to assist the
Here, in unrelenting ex- Striving to impress the wild- Garbo,” Manny says to a way. Nellie is cast as a last- sprawling sand-and-sword
cess and hedonism, is the ness of the time, “Babylon” policeman) is all he needs minute fill-in while Jack epic that’s desperate to
manic, madcap energy of overdoes it, striking a car- for most favors. In the film’s Conrad (Brad Pitt), a silent get one last shot before los-
the movies and the crush- toonish over-the-top note first opening minutes an star in the Douglas Fair- ing the light.
ing maw of the medium’s from the start, and then, for avalanche of elephant ex- banks mold, brings Manny “Babylon” is never so ex-
perpetual evolution. That three hours, trying vainly to crement that cakes even along with him the next hilarating as when sweat,
early freewheeling frenzy sustain its drug-fueled fe- the camera lens; at the day to set. luck and a chance but-
is snuffed out (ironically) by ver dream of bygone Hol- mansion in the hills, a bac- Each will make their nimble terfly conspire to make a
the advent of sound and lywood. That makes for an chanal of sex and cocaine way up, with a widespread moment of movie magic

other forces that seek to overstuffed and especially exist both the indulgence cast of characters swirling that’s sealed with those di-
domesticate the movies. In by the increasingly way- and grotesqueness of Hol- around, including a Black vine words: “We got it.”q
that way, “Babylon” may ward third act meander- lywood. band leader (Jovan Ade-
be most addressed to our ing film. The party scene seems de- po), a tuxedo-clad chan-
current movie era. But it’s also an insistently signed to match or better teuse named Lady Fay
Today’s film industry is simi- alive one that’s hard to Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf Zhu (a bewitching Li Jun Li)
larly wracked by forces of look away from, with flash- of Wall Street” for extrava- and gossip reporter Elinor
change that may be sap- es of brilliance. For a direc- gance. St. John (Jean Smart, fabu-
ping its big-screen verve. tor known for more tasteful There’s a riff here on the lous).
“Babylon” is about how the and sentimental excursions, Fatty Arbuckle-Virginia Nothing is quite as vivid in
movies are always reborn, “Babylon” is a lurid descent Rappe scandal, but in the “Babylon” as its teeming
but brutally so. Though it into debauchery. Some- heady swirl, the only things studio of outdoor sets (care
may be a chaotic shamble, times it’s an unnatural fit. that really register are Man- of production designer Flor-
Chazelle’s film makes this It’s too showy and too long. ny, a Mexican immigrant encia Martin) where Nel-
one point brilliantly clear: But Chazelle’s film is some- with dreams of rising in lie and Manny each find facebook.com/arubatoday/