Hey there, thanks for dropping in! This week is the final installment, for a good while anyways, in the Margot Robbie filmography watch through. Back in 2022, I asked which actor/actress you all would like to see me do a full watch through of their filmography. I ultimately wound up with 11 different names, threw those into a randomizer, and Margot Robbie was our winner. Today marks the 27th film of Margot’s that I’ve reviewed as a part of this journey. Party time, sparkle cocks. Let’s dive into… Babylon (2022).
Title: Babylon
Director: Damien Chazelle
Released: December 15, 2022 (Premiere – Los Angeles)
Runtime: 3 hours 9 minutes
Available to stream on: Paramount+
It is 1926 in Bel Air, Manny (Diego Calva) is doing his best to get an elephant up a hill and to the mansion of his employer, Kinescope Studios head Don Wallach (Jeff Garlin) in time for the party. After a few unfortunate mishaps, he’s successful and gets back to preparing for the rest of the festivities.
Later that night as the party gets underway, Manny falls immediately in love with aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) the moment she crashes into the fountain upon her arrival. When security refuses to let her in because she’s not on the list, Manny tells a white lie in order for Nellie to gain entry to the party.
Wild debauchery ensues and one girl, who was scheduled to be on set the next morning, overdoses upstairs. Manny schemes a way to get the girl out and to the hospital without the entire party finding out what’s happening. Meanwhile, Nellie happens to be in the right place at the right time and is called upon to fill the girl’s spot tomorrow on set.
As the party ends, Manny is tasked with taking star of the silent era, Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), and driving him home. As it turns out, his ability to get Jack home safely earns him a spot on set as a production assistant/personal assistant to Jack. The next day, Manny successfully gets striking extras back on set without costing the production a dime. When the director’s ability to capture the shot of the day falls on Manny, he’s up for the challenge. Ultimately, he winds up waiting around nearly all day for a camera rental to be turned in. With camera finally in hand, Manny lifts an ambulance and flies back to set just in time to capture the shot as the sun sets in the background. Manny’s hardwork doesn’t go unnoticed and he finds himself employed on future productions as a result.
Nellie is having just as good a day over in her world on set. Director, Ruth Adler (Olivia Hamilton), loves Nellie’s ability to cry on command. Nevermind that she just upstaged the main actress, there’s something to Nellie and Ruth sees it. She makes sure the two continue working together, ultimately leading to Nellie becoming the next big “it” girl in Hollywood.
However, the only consistent thing about the movie industry is change. To say that change is coming would be quite the understatement. You see, silent movies are slowly on their way out.
What’s replacing them? Talkies. That’s right, motion pictures with full sound and dialogue.
But how will an established star of the silent era, an up-and-coming star, and a man unknowingly starting his below-the-line career all handle the shift towards talking pictures?
Babylon (2022) is A LOT. Odds are you either love it or hate it for this very reason.
I, for one, absolutely love everything about it.
It is loud, over-the-top, and unapologetic in how it showcases the ways the movie industry flows with change with or without you coming along for the ride. It will adore you one moment and spit you out the next.
The cinematography, costumes, production design, and score are all absolutely incredible. While it received Oscar noms for three of those, unfortunately, Babylon (2022) walked away empty-handed that year.
Where the movie really shines for me is with the cast.
Brad Pitt is still as charismatic on-screen as ever, just this time in a much more stoic and reserved sort of role for him. He is able to portray Jack Conrad struggling with coming to terms with his own mortality, both in life and as an actor, in a way that makes you almost feel sorry for him.
Margot Robbie is able to let her hair down and be all brash no class in her role as Nellie. Someone saw something in her and now she’s let it get to her head. She takes us on quite the emotional roller coaster as we follow Nellie’s rise and fall as a starlet.
The biggest surprise for me though was the breakout performance from Diego Calva as Manny. From the minute we’re introduced to Manny as he is struggling with the elephant, I was invested in his story. Yes, it was wonderful to see him ascend from house help to movie director. Although, it wasn’t the easiest of roads for him to get there. Along the way, Manny abandons his identity as a Mexican in order to remain in good graces with the white studio heads. Calva conveys the emotional struggle of weighing one’s dreams against one’s personal identity in heart wrenching fashion.
The supporting cast of Babylon (2022) was equally as impressive as the leads. Jovan Adepo as trumpeter Sidney Palmer was great. Sidney is sort of basically the fourth lead as we follow his story almost as closely as Nellie, Jack, and Manny’s. There’s Jean Smart playing a Hedda Hopper type gossip columnist, Rory Scovel being the on-set go-to guy for drugs, and an absolutely unhinged Tobey Maguire as well.
Yes, all of those are great performances, but the supporting character who had me in stitches was P.J. Byrne as 1st Assistant Director Max. When they’re filming with sound for the first time and things go sideways, Max’s rants had me crying laughing. If you’ve ever spent any time on a set, you can relate so hard to that scene specifically.
As I said, I love everything about this movie.
If you’ve never seen Babylon (2022), go into it with an open mind. If you’ve already seen it, why not go and rewatch it again.
So, if you have seen it, what did you think of Babylon (2022)?
Leave me a comment below or reach out to me on Bluesky and let me hear from you!
You can also follow me over on Letterboxd to see what else I’ve been watching lately.
So what’s next? Well, while we place this on the back burner for a bit, I’m going to be introducing a new bi-weekly theme that’ll be around at least through the end of the year.
Over on Letterboxd, if you look at your all-time stats and scroll to the bottom, you’ll see a map that shows each country that you’ve seen a film from highlighted in green. Here’s what mine looks like:
According to Letterboxd, I’ve seen at least one film from 92 different countries.
Well, in two weeks time, we’re going to go on a journey to watch a film from every remaining country!