Ever since Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” screened earlier this year, word-of-mouth has been contagious. The lucky few who actually saw it have been carrying the buzz for months now. The fact that it is skipping the fall festivals has only whet our appetites further and made us wonder when we’ll be seeing the damn thing.
HE has some more dirt on “Babylon”:
“A flamboyant, epic-scaled, 185-minute version of “Singin’ In The Rain”, but a lot longer with the songs and dancing and smiles taken out. Call it a depravity-tinged survival story about Hollywood transitioning from the silent era to sound, although ultimately spanning three decades (mid 1920s through 1952).”
“Vincent Minnelli meets “Fellini’s Satyricon” in jazz-age Hollywood. An epic-sized smorgasbord in which the excesses of “The Wolf of Wall Street” serve the story of “Singin’ in the Rain”.
“The two leads are Margot Robbie’s “Clara Bow” and Diego Calva’s “Manny Torres”. The latter is the main protagonist or audience identity figure — the observer-survivor. Robbie’s performance as Bow — quite the dynamic and highly admired actress in her day — is said to be the big takeaway and a likely Best Actress opportunity. Pitt is playing what amounts to a tragic supporting player role, Clark Gable-resembling but partly inspired by John Gilbert.”
Everyone wanted to see a “La La Land” rollout for “Babylon” (Venice, TIFF, Telluride), but the film is said to be a whole other beast. Rarely, has a major studio premiered a late-December 180 minute release in September. Can you remember the last time such a late-year epic has gone to Venice or Toronto?
We’ll have to wait to see the film in December.