Damien Chazelle‘s Babylon opens today (12.23). It’s probably too early to ask for reactions, but I was struck by a passage in Manohla Dargis‘s N.Y. Times review. For those who’ve seen it, do you agree or disagree with Dargis’s reaction? And why?
“Compared to the larger-than-life, at times cartoonish, more physically demonstrative performances delivered by Brad Pitt and especially Margot Robbie, Diego Calva is relatively tamped down and reactive, which brings his turn closer to contemporary notions of realism. These differences add complexity and much-needed rhythm changes.
“Similarly to his characters, Chazelle has embraced excess as a guiding principle in Babylon, and like his film La La Land, this one shifts between intimate interludes and elaborate set pieces, one difference being that Chazelle now has a heftier budget and is eager to show off his new toys. At the inaugural bacchanal, the camera doesn’t soar; it darts and swoops like a coked-up hummingbird.
“Despite the relentless churn on set and after hours, the movie is strangely juiceless. I don’t simply mean that it’s unsexy (which it is), but that there’s so little life in the movie, despite all the frantic action. There isn’t much going on other than the spectacle of its busily spinning parts, which might be tolerable if the first two hours weren’t so unrelievedly unmodulated, with everything synced to the same monotonous, accelerated pace.
“This hyperventilated quality initially serves the story and Chazelle’s concept of the era’s delirious excess, but the lack of modulation rapidly becomes enervating. After a while, it feels punishing.”
