Babylon 2022 by Damien Chazelle
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.
More reference
1920s: A Decade of Change. Screenshots are from the movie.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
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I loved the whole movie. It seems unfair so many negative reviews I've seen on twitter, many complain about its length, but for me it was short and I was even left wanting more. that beginning, with the elephant, the scatological scenes, the excesses of all kinds at the party, the music. I was immediately hooked. Manny falls in love very quickly, but I don't mind that detail because everything else was excellent. The sequence where they show how silent films were shot en masse and then the sequence where they show the changes in the way films were shot with the advent of sound was hilarious.
Right? I don't get it why people give this a negative comment. I genuinely think they just hate the 1920's for some reason. But it was a long time ago and this movie is raw as its get with the portrayal of the excess during that era. Also, the elephant shit was funny and so was when Manny speaks Spanish.
The cast is promising. I will add this to my watch list for sure 🤗 I can not read the full post in detail because of spoilers 😁🤗
uh oh! I should have put a spoiler alert haha. But yeah, it's overall great casts and dialogues too.
Just watched this one yesterday. A 3 hour movie but still worth it.
Right! time flies with this movie. I don't know why people can't sit in 3 hours while they can do that with Avatar🤣
I guess this deserves a spot on my watch list.
Yes but be warned, it's 3 hours :D
The truth is that I think this movie is great, although I haven't seen it I feel that the concept is incredible, I definitely have to see it!
Salu2 😎
the concept and everything is great and yeah it's 3 hours movie :D
Greetings Mac!🤗
I was looking this weekend to see this movie and couldn't find where to watch it as I don't have all the streaming services, I need to see it! 😞
I didn't know Fitzgerald is said to be a racist 😰 how unfortunate! I liked the guy and his movies, but this is a horror! However, I still appreciate the movies because the man is good, but, again terrible! 😓and I won't watch them with the same eyes anymore.
Happy belated friendship day dear friend @macchiata 🤗💖.
😂 the crazy part about this movie was I watched it without the subtitle and when the Manny speaks Spanish, I would just have to guess but he said " pendejo" a lot, that's the take-away when he speaks Spanish. There are so much to unpack about this movie and I can sit for 3 hours just to delve into the characters as 1920's is one of the period that I love. I think that it has so much resemblance in today's society that we live in an excess and sometimes it's not the city or fame or the industry itself that ruined it, it's us that did it. Happy Friendship Dalla! I wish I could send chocolate over there 😄
OMG "Pendejo" hahaha it's a very used word especially by Mexicans to call another fool 😅, I'll try to watch it this week, I also really like that decade and more when they recreate the setting so perfectly love it 😍😍.
You really know how to summarize, you have so much to say and yet it didn't make the post so long, these are qualities I wish I had 🫠.
Relax @macchiata, the day will come when we can personally give each other those chocolates, I hope you had a good time😊🤗💖.
A very similar movie The Great Gatsby but more unbridled haha, thanks for sharing :D
hahaha yeah, more wild parties and satanic-ish places :D
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