"Babylon" - Review

The year is 1926, and at a raucous party held in the soon-to-annihilated mansion of a studio executive: a quartet of characters cross paths, soon to be destined to a life in the Golden Era of Hollywood. Manuel Torres (Diego Calva) is a starry eyed dogsdody who wishes to work on a movie set just once in his life; Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) is a woman destined to become a star by any means necessary; Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) is the biggest star of the era, and riding high at the prime of his life; and Sydney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) is a quick-witted trumpet player keeping his band in line so that they get noticed at this party and maybe get a few gigs... These disparate character cross paths, part ways, rise, fall and follow dreams both lost and found, theirs and other people's, as we see that maybe Hollywood is not what they or we expected it to be...

Raucous carnage and a shattering of the rose tinted lense. That is the fastest way to describe this movie, but also doesn't quite do it justice. Damian Chazelle has taken a flamethrower and a belt of hand grenades to his chances of making a mainstream Hollywood film, all on his own terms: it's decadent, disgraceful, perverted, long, ambitious, bitter, cynical, sneering at the studio system, and very, very, very funny.
Opening with a truly deranged, lunacy and cocaine fuelled 30 minute party scene of debauchery (after an elephant taking a dump on a man), the film doesn't really let up. It's an assault on the senses, and on the mind itself. It takes us to dizzying heights, terrifying lows, and more than a few creamy middles... It's relentless, with several fantastic highlights: an excruciating rehearsal sequence which, whilst hilarious, is nail biting in its frustrations and ends on a dark note; a chaotic back lot shoot with a hysterical director based on Erich Von Stroheim; and a surprise guest appearance from a very fun against-type Tobey Maguire as a mob boss pitching movie ideas, which takes a descent into the horrifying, nightmarish bowels of the city and a consuming maw mirroring the studio system - but that part does go on a bit long and come out of left field, largely. It is made up of fantastic scenes and embraces its layers of tragedy (frequently cutting from something horrific to something uproarious or jazzy, which never gets old) and has Eric Roberts in it (you hire Eric Roberts, you GET Eric Roberts!), which is always a bonus, and follows through on the ideas it presents - the ending in particular is an assault on the senses and a message about how we still enjoy the spectacle of Hollywood (though - fuck James Cameron). It's the little details which really shine through (Sydney being given a tin of polish is a standout, but the chat between Conrad and a columnist about his job also hits home). But the length will be a turn off, as will its deliberately off-putting material. People are going to tune out at different parts, and enjoy different parts, but Chazelle made something.
I highly doubt Hollywood wanted him to make this, but tha makes it all the more special.