I managed to get myself into one of the Wednesday screenings for Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon.” Whether I make the 3-hour trek is a whole other story, but I RSVP’ed. So, there. Having tested positive for COVID, I’ll have to get a negative test before heading out. It’s really all up in the air.
However, tomorrow “Babylon” is having its first official screening in Los Angeles. The film will then be screened for press on Wednesday in New York City. Both are Guild screenings with press allowed to attend, the cast and crew will be doing Q&As right after. No word yet on review embargoes, but the social media embargo will lift right after the L.A. screening is done.
Suffice to say, we’ll be covering the event(s). “Babylon” is a big deal. Chazelle is one of the very few promising young filmmakers to have emerged the last 10 years, or so. After “Whiplash,” “La La Land,” and “First Man,” Chazelle has set his sights on 1920s Hollywood, a time and place of total debauchery as an industry was being built from the ground up.
There will be no old-school intermission either at these screenings as all 188 minutes of “Babylon” will be shown uninterrupted. So, what are our readers seeing in their tea leaves? There are some out there who believe “Babylon” is a trainwreck waiting to be unleashed, whereas others are trusting the glowing raves from this past Spring’s test-screening. Only 24 hours left before we find out the fate of “Babylon” …