Babylon

Few modern filmmakers swing for the fences as aggressively as Damien Chazelle does with Babylon. This is an enormous, chaotic, unapologetically ambitious love letter and condemnation of Hollywood all at once. Every scene feels designed to overwhelm the audience through energy, spectacle, emotion, or sheer excess. Whether viewers ultimately embrace it or reject it, the film's confidence is undeniable.

Margot Robbie delivers one of the strongest performances of her career as Nellie LaRoy. She brings tremendous energy, charm, vulnerability, and unpredictability to the role, making Nellie impossible to ignore whenever she appears. Brad Pitt is equally strong as aging movie star Jack Conrad, while Diego Calva serves as the audience's emotional entry point into the increasingly chaotic world of early Hollywood.

Technically, the film is extraordinary. The cinematography, production design, costume work, editing, and especially Justin Hurwitz's electrifying score combine to create one of the most visually and sonically dynamic films of the decade. Chazelle constantly finds inventive ways to keep the movie moving despite its lengthy runtime.

The biggest criticism is that Babylon occasionally becomes consumed by its own excess. At more than three hours, several sequences feel longer than necessary, and some scenes seem designed primarily to shock or provoke. The film repeatedly explores Hollywood's cruelty and self-destruction, sometimes making the same point multiple times.

Even so, the performances, technical craftsmanship, and sheer ambition make Babylon one of the boldest and most memorable studio films of recent years.