Babylon (2022 directed by Damien Chazelle) watched 28th Jan 2023
Elephant shit in my eyes. A Babylon review:
When the credits rolled, I raced out of the cinema to sit in my car, in solitude, amidst heavy rain fall. I was gathering myself, attempting to collect my thoughts on what I had just watched. Reconciliation was difficult; what was the meaning, what was purposeful, what was it all about?
This movie is thoroughly entertaining, no doubt. There are plenty of original ideas here, throughout. But it took a few moments of silent reflection until it started to click for me; This movie is a "love" letter to Hollywood like many recent films have penned (once upon a time in Hollywood, ((insert Brad Pitt old school Hollywood genre is my fav genre joke here)) mank, Hail cesar etc) but this one is different. Self awareness is turned up to 11, and I think a lot of the on the nose jokes regarding the changing of cinema and its effects on the both the audience and the creators are more than meets the eye (poos and farts and all). And it’s not so much a Love letter and more so a stern mirror being held up to show what exactly this Babylonian city has been built upon so far. Quite compelling upon reflection, maybe I’m dumb and everyone else can click onto this in the moment lol. But truth be told I couldn’t think about this during the film as I was either having too much fun or was confused about what was happening.
To explain that, this film doesn't quite completely knock it out of the park, honestly I don't know that the Tobey Maguire gta side mission was needed in its entirety but eh it was still enjoyable.
The assault on the eyes ending does allow for more speculation on the films meaning in some ways. The ending felt like jazz music in a weird way.
Although Babylon doesn't add too the tower that grows closer to God or further from him, it certainly does reflect on it in a non biased and entertaining and thought provoking way.
This growing tower that uses the format of sound and color, is the best elephant shit I have ever had in my eyes.
