If you didn’t know, the 1920’s is a time when the Jazz age was at its peak. Not only that, society was slowly transforming after WWI ended. On the positive note it was the time of transition but it was also the time when party, drugs, and women were part of the display of hedonism during this era. I personally researched the roaring twenties because my paper was using the era and also featuring the famous American author at the time who is famous for the Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald . From his life, I was able to peek at life in the roaring twenties and society at the time. Perhaps you also have seen the movie, Great Gatsby who also display hedonism at the time and the mysterious man called Mr Gatsby but this movie, Babylon gives us a peak into a life at the film industry where almost any girl would want to be on the screen and have a chance to be an actress. Babylon show a unique perspective from the roaring twenties and giving it a closer inspection to the carefree living during that transformative time. This is the story about dreams, decadence, and of course a display of hedonism back in the 1920’s.
Babylon centered around a character named Manny (Diego Calva) who is an immigrant hustler working to fix things at Don WallachI actually forgot the name but it was something like Don Wallach. He first crossed the border when he was 13. He soon found himself meeting with Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), an alcoholic actor and an ambitious girl Nellie (Margot Robbie)who aspires to work in the film industry. When Nellie and Many were doing cocaine, Manny told him that he wanted to work in the film industry too as that was something he aspired to be and they could escape reality. Shortly after, Manny got closer to Jack Conrad who took him to the film set called Kinoscope studio. Even Nellie got a small role in the set and did her best and she eventually found herself to be famous. Meanwhile Manny was still hustling and was nowhere to be seen. The movie fast forward to 1928 when the new technology was used. In the past, the movie was silent but now, Nelly has to remember lines and the movie now has sound and is no more a silent one. The set also got inside a room and became more interesting with more equipment. Then, during a party Manny met once again with Nelly while Conrad got a new fiance. During the party Nelly challenged his dad to fight a rattlesnake. But her father was too drunk to fight it and eventually passed out. Nelly then fought the rattlesnake and got bitten but Fay, the lesbian singer lady, saved her and Nelly woke up from the horror and almost passed away. After that, Manny was working at the cinema while Nelly and Conrad found their decline.
One night Nelly knocked on Manny’s door to ask for help. She was in dire of money due to her habitual gambling. When Manny said that “ you’re Nelly, you have money” but apparently there was nothing left as the money was managed by her incompetent father and that she has no more assets to pay her 85000 debt. Manny was frustrated but shortly after tried to find a way to help Nelly. But things got complicated when the money was actually a prop money in which Manny got it from an aspiring actor who was unnamed. Will they eventually reach their dream and what would happen to the relationship between Nelly and Manny?
The quote above is an argument to a story titled Babyblon revisited written by F. Scott. Fitzgerald. Under that title, he was attempting to show the decline at that era too. And many of his works are having the same tone. When I compare this movie with many of Fitzgerlad works, it really was like that. In the story, it wasn’t the industry that alone spoiled people but also the people themselves. Much like Babylon, the narrative was built with dreams, hope but eventually falling apart due to the characters' problems. It showed that the excess they had made them forget about who they were. But the industry itself can't also be excluded from the conversation. One intriguing part was the case of Sydney Palmer who eventually escape the industry as he faced with racism. He let go of everything including the money, the house, and his new found wealth and circles. Eventually, going back to where he was, playing smaller gigs. If you are really familiar with Fitzgerald's work, this movie is an illustration of many things that he wrote. I remember getting the question and criticism from my lecture that Fitzgerald was a racist man and I was sort of forced to see him that way. But I refused to see him and his work in that light. Questions like “ why there’s no black character in his novels?”, “ why is he portraying a certain race in a negative light?” were frequent and I suppose this movie received similar criticism. But despite all those, much like I love Fitzgerald movies, I enjoy watching them. The dialogues in the movie were amazing, especially the conversation between Conrad and Elinor about the analogy of a cockroach and Conrad’s decline.
“You’re just a cockroach” Conrad said to Elinor
“Why do you think the cockroach survived? You thought the house needed you but doesn’t. It doesn’t need you anymore. The roaches know this crawl in the dark, laying low and making it through. See but you held the spotlight. And those who are in the dark just watched and survived”
That was the conversation that I transcribed from the movie. It’s not the complete sentence but it was something along those lines. However I also recognize that there are some narratives that are forced, for instance the relationship between Manny and Nelly which makes Manny a total simp.
I think that Manny could have gotten anything he wanted in life as he was the real hustler and was brilliant. Yet he fell into the girl with all the red flags and simply led him to his own decline. It was a bittersweet movie and in my defense, the forced narrative about Manny and Nelly relationship was a life itself, where sometimes you can’t have control over things and how it could be.
›Babylon – Wild Hollywood | Film Review | En-Es|@jcrodriguez1229d
Come, you have a direct pass to the wildest party. You will be in an exclusive place, dancing with the most important people in the entertainment industry. Drugs, sex, pleasure, enjoy!
Ven, tienes un pase directo a la fiesta más salvaje. Estarás en un lugar exclusivo, bailando con la gente más importante de la industria del entretenimiento. Drogas, sexo, placer. ¡Disfrútalo!
How not to love Damien Chazelle? The filmmaker gives us a tribute to the most salacious era of the old Hollywod and in my case I was ecstatic. My pupils are still vibrating at this bacchanal of excess. I don't understand how anyone can say they are bored. Do you really love the seventh art? Damn! The film was over and I was left wanting more.
If you found the sequences of The Wolf of Wall Street extravagant and full of excesses, wait until you see Babylon, to get another dose of cinematic drug and hallucinate with this story set in a Hollywood that marked an era.
Why did it crash at the box office? This is incomprehensible, according to what they say on twitter, I have not confirmed with official news, the film has failed at the box office and cost a lot of money. Could it be because of its length? But if Cameron's blue bugs movie is just as long and that if they have swallowed it whole. Could it be because it is about Hollywood in the 20's? It was a wild time and the movie portrays it in a funny way.
I think the film has been underrated by audiences and critics. Even Hollywood itself seems to have relegated it. It's unfair that it hasn't received nominations for best picture, directing, actress, etc. It has only been nominated in the categories of costumes, soundtrack and production design, which it also deserves, just by watching the trailer you can see the wonderful work done in those areas.
Is it a past that Hollywood doesn't want you to see? It seems so, the industry, although progressive, seems to be ashamed of its own history. Since political correctness took over the industry, it's getting worse. It seems they only want stories that idealize a fantasy world where everything is good and for us to forget the more soulless and lustful sides of the movie mecca. I don't doubt it, coincidentally this film and Blonde have been relegated to the background.
Never mind that the major awards (are they still?) give this production a bad rap, I hope history will put it in the place it deserves, just give it time. Babylon enters my list of the best of last year, for its impressive production and its intertwined stories that don't let us take a breath.
Each sequence is a tour de forcé that raises the tension and at the same time entertains us with the most bizarre situations, with a vibrant rhythm, our mind must go through this rain of images and sounds that transport us to that world longed for by millions of people, but where only a few manage to enter.
Chazelle wants the viewer to enjoy and suffer with the characters that populate the Babylon of the twentieth century: Hollywood.
¿Cómo no amar a Damien Chazelle? El cineasta nos brinda un homenaje a la época más salaz del viejo Hollywod y en mi caso salí extasiado. Todavía me vibran las pupilas ante esta bacanal de excesos. No entiendo cómo alguien puede decir que se aburre. ¿De verdad amas el séptimo arte? ¡Demonios! Se acabó la película y me quedé con ganas de más.
Si las secuencias de El lobo de Wall Street te parecieron extravagantes y llenas de excesos, espera a ver Babylon, para recibir otra dosis de droga cinematográfica y alucinar con esta historia ambientada en un Hollywood que marcó una época.
¿Por qué se estrelló en taquilla? Esto es incomprensible, según dicen en twitter, no lo he confirmado con noticias oficiales, la película ha fracasado en taquilla y ha costado mucho dinero. ¿Será por su duración? Pero si la película de los bichos azules de Cameron es igual de larga y eso si se la han tragado entera. ¿Será porque trata sobre el Hollywood de los años 20? Fue una época salvaje y la película la retrata de forma divertida.
Creo que la película ha sido infravalorada por el público y la crítica. Incluso el propio Hollywood parece haberla relegado. Es injusto que no haya recibido nominaciones a mejor película, dirección, actriz, etc. Sólo ha sido nominada en las categorías de vestuario, banda sonora y diseño de producción, que también se merece, sólo con ver el trailer se puede ver el maravilloso trabajo realizado en esas áreas.
¿Es un pasado que Hollywood no quiere que veas? Parece que sí, la industria, aunque progresista, parece avergonzarse de su propia historia. Desde que la corrección política se apoderó de la industria, va a peor. Parece que sólo quieren historias que idealicen un mundo de fantasía donde todo es bueno y que olvidemos los lados más desalmados y lujuriosos de la meca del cine. No lo dudo, casualmente esta película y Blonde han quedado relegadas a un segundo plano.
No importa que los premios más importantes (¿todavía lo son?) le pongan malos ojos a esta producción, espero que la historia la ponga en el lugar que se merece, sólo hay que darle tiempo al tiempo. Babylon entra en mi lista de lo mejor del año pasado, por su impresionante producción y sus historias entrelazadas que no nos dejan tomarnos un respiro.
Cada secuencia es un tour de forcé que eleva la tensión y al mismo tiempo nos entretiene con situaciones de lo más rocambolescas, con un ritmo vibrante, nuestra mente debe atravesar esta lluvia de imágenes y sonidos que nos transportan a ese mundo anhelado por millones de personas, pero donde sólo unos pocos consiguen entrar.
Chazelle quiere que el espectador disfrute y sufra con los personajes que pueblan la Babilonia del siglo XX: Hollywood.
The story introduces us to a large number of characters during the time when Hollywood was expanding as the land where everyone wanted to succeed and be famous. The decade of the twenties, when the star system took its first steps. Where cinema gained more prestige, even though some intellectuals were determined to see it as a minor art, they were blind and did not realize that the seventh art was dominating the entertainment industry.
Those were the times of the terrible Prohibition, but that did not stop alcohol from being consumed in large quantities. It didn't take long for the ill-fated period known as the Great Depression to arrive, but also for something that would completely change the industry: the irruption of sound films.
The films were silent and many actors and actresses became famous, they became stars admired by the spectators. No one was prepared for what was coming, a real revolution. Sound. This would change everything, even the way films were shot, for which Chazelle prepares a delirious sequence that shows us what these changes consisted of and how they were adapting to them. A desperate and funny scene at the same time.
As happens in the film, real life was very cruel to many silent film stars. With the advent of sound, they had to recite dialogues that had to be learned, it was no longer just about gestures, they had to speak and unfortunately many of those beautiful actresses or those handsome actors who were the dream of many, had voices that sounded ugly.
It was a debacle for many and a great opportunity for others. The careers of great celebrities were over, the public no longer liked that voice. Some were able to survive and continue, but others went bankrupt, ended up addicted to alcohol and some even lost their lives.
That's how that industry is, like a meat processor, constantly using and discarding what no longer serves them. Still their system works like that, it's always a search for new stars. Everyone has an expiration date, when they stop attracting the public or reach a certain age, they are pushed aside, job opportunities become scarce and younger ones take their place.
The scene that best exemplifies this is the one between Elinor St John, a gossip journalist, and Jack Conrad, the actor who was watching his career fade away. She tells him that in fifty years there will be hundreds more Jack Conrads in Hollywood, as well as hundreds more journalists like her. It was all over for him, he should be grateful because he would be immortalized for eternity.
La historia nos presenta a un gran número de personajes durante la época en que Hollywood se expandía como la tierra donde todos querían triunfar y ser famosos. La década de los veinte, cuando el star system dio sus primeros pasos. Donde el cine obtuvo mayor prestigio, a pesar de que algunos intelectuales se empeñaban en verlo como un arte menor, estaban ciegos y no se daban cuenta de que el séptimo arte estaba dominando la industria del entretenimiento.
Eran los tiempos de la terrible Ley Seca, pero eso no impidió que el alcohol se consumiera en grandes cantidades. No tardó en llegar el nefasto periodo conocido como la gran depresión, pero también algo que cambiaría por completo la industria: la irrupción del cine sonoro.
Las películas eran mudas y muchos actores y actrices se hicieron famosos, se convirtieron en estrellas admiradas por los espectadores. Nadie estaba preparado para lo que se avecinaba, una auténtica revolución. El sonido. Esto lo cambiaría todo, incluso la forma de rodar las películas, para lo que Chazelle prepara una delirante secuencia que nos muestra en qué consistían estos cambios y cómo se iban adaptando a ellos. Una escena desesperante y divertida a la vez.
Como ocurre en la película, la vida real fue muy cruel con muchas estrellas del cine mudo. Con la llegada del sonoro, tenían que recitar diálogos que debían aprenderse, ya no se trataba sólo de hacer gestos, tenían que hablar y desgraciadamente muchas de aquellas bellas actrices o aquellos guapos actores que eran el sueño de muchos, tenían voces que sonaban feas.
Fue una debacle para muchos y una gran oportunidad para otros. La carrera de grandes celebridades había terminado, al público ya no le gustaba esa voz. Algunos pudieron sobrevivir y continuar, pero otros se arruinaron, acabaron adictos al alcohol y algunos incluso perdieron la vida.
Así es esa industria, como un procesador de carne, constantemente usando y desechando lo que ya no les sirve. Todavía su sistema funciona así, siempre es una búsqueda de nuevas estrellas. Todos tienen una fecha de caducidad, cuando dejan de atraer al público o llegan a cierta edad, son apartados, las oportunidades de trabajo escasean y otros más jóvenes ocupan su lugar.
La escena que mejor lo ejemplifica es la que protagonizan Elinor St John, una periodista de cotilleos, y Jack Conrad, el actor que veía cómo su carrera se desvanecía. Ella le dice que dentro de cincuenta años habrá otros cientos de Jack Conrad en Hollywood, así como otros cientos de periodistas como ella. Todo había terminado para él, debía estar agradecido porque quedaría inmortalizado para la eternidad.
Babylon, in all its motley group of characters, focuses on three. Nellie LaRoy, the young and beautiful girl ready to be a star, she has even changed her last name to make it sound better. Sexy, daring, funny and eager to take on the world, luck will knock on her door and she will soon become part of the select group of people who will make the crowds dream. An overwhelming personality but with great defects, crazy party girl, addicted to drugs, food, gambling, excesses. She will find it hard to adapt to sound movies and her addiction to gambling will get her into serious trouble.
Margot Robbie's work is colossal. She injects a great amount of energy to her character, personality and beauty is perfectly suited to the grandiloquence that the director is looking for in every scene she stars in, especially in the unbridled party scenes. It's a shame she's not nominated for an Oscar, when her work is outstanding as the queen of this modern-day Babylon.
Jack Conrad is the star actor, starring in a lot of hit movies, changing wives like shirts, enjoying the craziness of being a celebrity and enjoying it. The talkies will change his status, he will no longer be the same as before, jobs start to fail him and he is only offered supporting roles. It will be hard times for the man who always had everything. The character is played by Brad Pitt who once again delights us with his performance and will make us laugh with his bad Italian accent, reminding us of his scene in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
Manuel "Manny" Torres is the third protagonist. He will go from assistant to producer, luck smiles on this young man who wants to be in the Hollywood industry, but his immigrant condition plays against him, being an actor is not a possibility, but being good at solving problems and having a lot of creativity will make him stand out behind the cameras. He is also a man madly in love with Nellie LaRoy. He has loved her since the day he met her, but she is a hurricane that will destroy everything in her path. The character is played by Mexican actor Diego Calva and I loved it.
Babylon, en todo su variopinto grupo de personajes, se centra en tres. Nellie LaRoy, la joven y bella chica dispuesta a ser una estrella, incluso se ha cambiado el apellido para que suene mejor. Sexy, atrevida, divertida y con ganas de comerse el mundo, la suerte llamará a su puerta y pronto pasará a formar parte del selecto grupo de personas que harán soñar a las multitudes. Una personalidad arrolladora pero con grandes defectos, loca fiestera, adicta a las drogas, a la comida, al juego, a los excesos. Le costará adaptarse al cine sonoro y su adicción al juego la meterá en serios problemas.
El trabajo de Margot Robbie es colosal. Inyecta una gran cantidad de energía a su personaje, personalidad y belleza se adapta perfectamente a la grandilocuencia que el director busca en cada escena que protagoniza, especialmente en las escenas de fiesta desenfrenada. Es una pena que no esté nominada al Oscar, cuando su trabajo es sobresaliente como reina de esta moderna Babilonia.
Jack Conrad es el actor estrella, que protagoniza un montón de películas de éxito, cambia de esposas como de camisas, disfruta de la locura de ser una celebridad y disfruta con ello. El cine sonoro cambiará su estatus, ya no será el mismo de antes, los trabajos empiezan a fallarle y sólo le ofrecen papeles secundarios. Serán tiempos difíciles para el hombre que siempre lo tuvo todo. El personaje está interpretado por Brad Pitt que una vez más nos deleita con su actuación y nos hará reír con su mal acento italiano, nos recordará a su escena en la película Inglourious Basterds de Tarantino.
Manuel "Manny" Torres es el tercer protagonista. Pasará de ser asistente a productor, la suerte le sonríe a este joven que quiere estar en la industria de Hollywood, pero su condición de inmigrante juega en su contra, ser actor no es una posibilidad, pero ser bueno resolviendo problemas y tener mucha creatividad le hará destacar detrás de las cámaras. También es un hombre locamente enamorado de Nellie LaRoy. La ama desde el día en que la conoció, pero ella es un huracán que destruirá todo a su paso. El personaje está interpretado por el actor mexicano Diego Calva y me encantó.
There are other small stories where homosexuality and racism are addressed, specifically with the characters Lady Fay, who works creating the silent movie posters and the African-American musician Sidney Palmer, who will taste the sweetness of success but also the bitter fruits, making him take a drastic decision.
All the characters are the reflection of an era, they will reach the top of the mountain, but they will also be expelled to crash among the remains of an empire that would soon become bigger, but without any of them.
Babylon is a love story, not only of an impossible love that will end tragically, it is a love story of cinema. Chazelle makes a mammoth homage to the seventh art, and to do so he needed to throw the most extravagant and excessive party possible with a soundtrack that is ringing in my ears because I am listening to it as I write this post. I loved every minute of the film and I identified with that final smile in the middle of the tears.
Have you seen it? Tell me your opinion in the comments.
Hay otras pequeñas historias donde se aborda la homosexualidad y el racismo, concretamente con los personajes Lady Fay, que trabaja creando los carteles de las películas mudas y el músico afroamericano Sidney Palmer, que probará las mieles del éxito pero también los frutos amargos, haciendole tomar una drástica decisión.
Todos los personajes son el reflejo de una época, llegarán a la cima de la montaña, pero también serán expulsados para estrellarse entre los restos de un imperio que pronto se haría más grande, pero sin ninguno de ellos.
Babylon es una historia de amor, no sólo de un amor imposible que acabará trágicamente, es una historia de amor al cine. Chazelle realiza un descomunal homenaje al séptimo arte, y para ello necesitaba montar la fiesta más extravagante y excesiva posible con una banda sonora que me retumba en los oídos porque la estoy escuchando mientras escribo este post. Me encantó cada minuto de la película y me identifiqué con esa sonrisa final en medio del lagrimas.
¿La has visto? Cuéntame tu opinión en los comentarios.
