Babylon

So the end of 2022 was kind of insane and we didn’t get to see as many movies as we would have liked so January is going to be my catch up month. These will not count towards the year end review of films for 2023 but will be added to the year end review for 2022. So first up we have the second Margot Robbie film of 2022, Babylon. Babylon got a lot of bad reviews, with around 50% on Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and audience members, and as always I am here to say that everyone that wrote negative reviews about this film are stupid and wrong.

Let's start with the only valid criticism of the film and that is that it could have been about a whole half hour shorter. 3 hours is quite long and if you aren’t a Lord of the Rings fanatic you simply aren’t used to holding your attention span for that amount of time and to an extent that's a reasonable thing to complain about…to an extent.

In reality the film was brilliant, it was honest and self aware and truly dove into the gritty and darker parts of old Hollywood. This was truly a film for those of us who love film. If you like Michael Bay, you won’t like this movie. If you spell theatre, theater, then you won’t like this movie. If you think the screenwriting in Avatar was peak cinema then you won’t like this movie. This movie is for people who understand and appreciate all parts of filmmaking and especially for those who long to have a place in the industry.

Perhaps the best part of the film was that the men and women were merely players, and the true main character was the industry itself. Babylon did a brilliant and beautiful job of highlighting the ebbs and flows of the industry. How quickly someone can find fame and acclaim and how they could lose it just as quickly. How draining and isolating it is, but also how magical and untouchable. How drastically it can change from decade to decade. And how everything we go through as a society, as an industry and as a people; every heartbreak, every trauma, and every triumph is and will always be fodder for others to take inspiration from.

Tying the entire plot back to Singing in the Rain was nothing short of genius, for that's how the entire film felt. It was simply more raw and dark. But ending with the iconic film shows how even the hardest of times can be glamorised, and turned into something beautiful and awe-inspiring.

Of course the highlight performance of the film was the stunningly talented Margot Robbie. I would truly see that woman in anything, she commits herself so whole-heartedly and she pulls every emotion possible from herself and her audience. Margot is a privilege to watch and there was simply no better casting choice. Her ability to go absolutely crazy on screen, be completely chaotic and then find such a stillness in the next scene is truly incredible.

Overall the movie was incredible, and anyone saying otherwise simply needs to watch more movies…just go to the bathroom first. Never has there been a more comprehensive, complicated and real commentary on the film industry and its evolution and who knows if we’ll ever see one like it again. So if you have more than 3 brain cells and have a better attention span then a goldfish I highly recommend Babylon. It was truly one of the best things to come out of 2022.