i love how jake views the ending. i felt conflicted about the end until it lead into the deconstruction of the film itself. maybe it would be better to just end on Manny’s face with no compilation, but there’s so much beauty in the breakdown of colorizing the movie. i think the intention of showing the progress of cgi is to mimic the problem with the advancement of sound in movies. it sweetens the metaphor at the beginning of underpaid workers pushing a cgi elephant up a hill for a bunch of rich people who will benefit from the spectacle of it. ultimately, it craps in their face like how people complain about the cgi made by overworked artists, but the rich prevail when the elephant works as a distraction from the death of a potential young actress. the prophesy of Babylon’s sins causing its own destruction reigns true.
@@womancarryingman Lol, maybe it's because people just assume this is the MCT channel. I am 14 min in, and I just realized this was a different channel glancing at the comments :) One sub at a time, the realization will come through and forces will merge.
I've watched over 25 YT reviews of Babylon by now and you two have had the most exhaustive and on point take on the movie in my view. Congratulations, you've earned a subscriber ))) After a few days of regurgitating the shit the movie depicted, I myself am convinced what Chazzelle wanted to really do was give two royal dirty fingers to corproate Hollywood. It was less "shitting on the audience" as it was flipping on corporate Hollywood for the shitty way it treats rhe very people making them tons of profit. The movie meant to disgust the audience precisely because it did not want to romanticize the exploitation that Hollywood does to real people. It wanted the audience to be revolted spectacularly. And for rhis reason I liked Babylon and will rewatch it. It is a solid 7 to me. The only reason I can not rate it higher is that the ending seem a bit forced and winded. Other than that Babylon is a "great" movie that will come down beeing bashed undeservedly. That it bombed in the box office is the sweetest irony of all.
Haven't watched it yet but my experience and opinion with "polarizing" films is exactly like Nadia's. I first encountered these movies by watching "Mother!" and "Green Knight" which are pretty new and few since I'm still pretty young and I'm sure there's more out there. But anyways, I HATED watching these movies, but then when I took the time to think about it, talk about it or and discussions, the movies became SO FASCINATING and interesting that I end up appreciating them despite never wanting to watch them again. When I first discovered these kinds of movies, it really opened my eyes to cinema.
"Mother!" was a difficult, unpleasant experience in many ways, but the ways you can interpret it and the really fascinating analysis it lends itself to made it totally worth it for me. It's not escapist, popcorn theater, but it's a movie I'll still think about for years. Same with "Antichrist." Hard to watch, endlessly fascinating to think about.
@@badvegan exactly, I’m not sure I would’ve enjoyed seeing Mother! in the cinema as much if I hadn’t somehow clocked onto the biblical analogy early on, then let that guide my viewing experience
Good review, you guys. Recently came upon this channel thanks to the RU-vid algorithm, and have been enjoying your takes. Personally, after just watching this last night, I really liked it, maybe even loved it, and I don't know how I feel.about that. It obviously isn't perfect, but it just had that special something that I can't always describe, but that I know, when I feel it watching a film for the first time, I just know I'm gonna buy it and think about it for a long while after. Gonna buy the Blu-ray and rewatch soon. I had such low expectations, but was pleasantly sorta blown away. What a ride.
loved it loved it loved it. I knew nothing about it about that there was some scene with an elephant. I went in not knowing what to expect, and went in for the journey. It hasn't left my memory since watching it four days ago.
@@womancarryingman that’s awesome, I love seeing couples that overlap enough with movie / tv interests to do this, or at least give things a chance for the purpose of discussion. I aspire to do this with my wife. Keep it up!
had to pee during the movie and there was like at least 3 scenes with people taking a piss and i was just reminded how much i needed to use the bathroom
i will never see this film and tbh ALL the descriptions I've heard of it so far make me physically nauseated 🤢 but I always like listening to your reviews. i don't think I could handle any animal cruelty content. stuff like that really sticks in my brain and haunts me, so I have to avoid it.
I'm happy to listen to You Must Remember This or read a book. I don't need to see certain things depicted visually and I have a strong bias against bloated films and auteur filmmakers. A fragile tragic female character, anachronistic styling and costuming, an emphasis on the scatalogical, and overwhelming sense of anger and bitterness... None of that sounds appealing especially for such a long run time.
I think there’s a good film in there somewhere. There’s flashes of brilliance and it can be poignant and even funny. And for better and worse, it moved really fast. But it really, really needed some cuts or split into two films. And is it just me or is Babylon basically Boogie Nights but instead of the golden seventies and the downfall with vhs in the eighties, it’s the golden twenties and the downfall with sound in the late twenties?
You’re not the first person to make this comparison. You can even argue Tobey Maguire is just playing Alfred Molina’s character from Boogie Nights but in the 20s
Great review and discussion here! I have tried really hard to like this movie but I just can’t. Babylon just comes off as a much lesser and much more shallow version of Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
How did this film get such a bad rap when this film is FOR cinephiles and those that love cinema and it’s crazy, insane, exploitative world of cinema on the cusp of transition from silent to sound in film. Nostalgic, beautiful, haunting and sometimes even sadistic, Babylon lives up to its title name exploring a “modern day” revamp of Babylon (modern in the context from biblical era to the last 200 yrs)
Nadia seems to have an issue that a lot of modern audiences do - a seeming refusal to accept complex moral presentations of concepts and characters. We're all conditioned to see everything in a good-evil mold and are being further conditioned into that thinking by cinema that is reinforcing those ideas as well as a CULTURE that is reinforcing that in our real lives at all times. One of the best things about Babylon, similar to PTA, is that he gives us truly complex characters that are never portrayed as purely endearing or evil - like real life. Great vid you two.
After having heard this discussion I think this movie works perfectly on a more meta level, even more than I already thought. This is (as some other comment said) a big middle finger to corporate Hollywood and because of that I think it’s ironic and great seeing this being released by a huge studio and not doing the numbers they probably hoped it would. The timing is also very interesting with the stikes going on right now and big (safe) blockbuster like the marvel movies not really paying of anymore. I just know this shit is going to age like fine fucking wine. Idk, this is probably a really rambly comment without a clear aim, so I’ll just say it like this: I fucking love this movie.
In regards to you saying this movie is an angry movie. I found that Damian what’s his face films have a misanthropic feel to them. He comes of as a man who likes movies and music but doesn’t like people
i watched this movie on the plane as like a "i got time to kill. i'll watch a 3 hour movie" and then I absolutely loved it then I went on rotten tomatoes and it was so incredibly mixed... I thought I was crazy...
A fast paced gut wrenching wild cinematic love letter filmed to intoxicate you on the glamor of Hollywood hay day and the grit behind the glitz that chews actors up and tosses them away. The danger of fame, ego, vanity, etc l. Be it the sacrifices it costs or the blind bliss to the short time to make it in a industry where the people with power to make you only care if you’re making them… money. This is art. Almost 3 hrs, 3 wildly different acts. Following 4 people entering the film industry at its birth in Hollywoodland with silent film and carying them like a tornado of meat grinders to the time of “ talkies” . Each getting worn down and chewed up at their own paces.Some sacrificing everything , some working there way to the very top from the very bottom, some fueled by vanity and ignorance with care free disregard to the far future. All being beaten by the Hollywood machine, because in gambling the house always wins. Same director as LaLa Land. Sit down , get comfortable, and buckle up for a long ride full of great performances and cameos in this wild cocaine fueled period piece. Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, and Diego Calva have quite the take to tell.
la la land and whiplash are some of my favorite movies and i know Damien Chazelle is a very talented director but hearing how sad it is and that its a hate note to cinema makes me not want to watch it.
Babylon is an arthouse film that is not meant for everyone and yet it has a huge budget. Big budgeted movies are made to be seen by all so I don't understand this artsy-fartsy style of filmmaking that's very convoluted that maybe only intellectuals are gonna get. During the depression era people were looking for an escape and movies provided that venue. They need not be reminded of the awfulness surrounding them for they just had to look around. If I wanted a more accurate depiction of that era then I would have just watched a documentary. If wanted to know what's happening in the world I would just watch the news. But those are just depressing so I go to the movies for a good time. I don't need this filth in a movie, it's just disgusting. At least porn has a much better climax. In conclusion idiot me only saw 'The Emperors New Clothes', as in nothing but some saw something.
Eh it has a lot to say, mostly negative, about the industry. I loved it because it’s just so sickening and gross. If you haven’t seen it how can you say this lmao
