It’s the late 1920s at the start of writer-director Damien Chazelle’s shimmering and breathtaking old Hollywood odyssey Babylon, and the desert-like soils on the screen look nothing like today’s pricey L.A. enclave Bel Air. With an electric score by Justin Hurwitz (that occasionally resembles the chords in Chazelle’s La La Land too audibly), it’s all pure, eye-gouging debauchery for 30 or so minutes. In that regard, Babylon isn’t overwhelmed by cookie-cutter drop-waists and cliched finger waves; but unruly styles with a refreshingly forward-looking attitude. His deliciously decadent Babylon has disorderly film sets owned by MGM as well the more ramshackle (and fictional) Kinoscope Studios. Still, this is perhaps Chazelle’s most clear-headed and least nostalgic film, being about the ephemeral and destructive side of an overwhelming obsession.

Source: The Star December 16, 2022 10:32 UTC