"Babylon" (2022)

[GoogaMooga]

NOW STREAMING: "Babylon", an 80 million dollar extravaganza about the decadence in Hollywood at the cusp of the talkies era. I was never a big fan of Brad Pitt, but this is one amazingly self-indulgent gross-out picture of piss, shit, fornication, and mountains of drugs. All jacked up to mach 10, with more travel shots and swirling cameras than a Spielberg on speed. What we have here is simply mind-numbing entertainment; a sensory overload of images, fast cutting, and rapid-fire dialog. However, don't expect the sophistication of classic screwball. These are the twenties reimagined by the hyperactive kids of today. I did not know who directed it going in, and since the credits were put off to the end, it became a fun diversion to guess who the director might be during the viewing of the film. My first guess was Baz Luhrmann, but it turns out it is a young tyro by the name of Damien Chazelle. During the film, I kept thinking, what would von Stroheim have done? Now there was a director who could show decadence without hammering home the point.

[ChrisB]

It's the sort of film which instantly appeals, but I, too, have heard that it is absolutely awful. Shame.

[The Fish]

but it turns out it is a young tyro by the name of Damien Chazelle.

You make it sound like you've never herd of him. He won best director oscar for La La Land

[GoogaMooga]

but it turns out it is a young tyro by the name of Damien Chazelle.

You make it sound like you've never herd of him. He won best director oscar for La La Land

Yeah, I found out later.