CINEMA NEWS – Relatively many people have already seen Babylon, which promises to be the big movie sensation of the coming months, but an “official” review has not yet been published because the producer Paramount studio announced an embargo on it until at least the middle of December.

Of course, you can’t put anything under lock and key on social media, so the platforms were flooded with mostly very positive reviews. And Deadline’s chief critic Pete Hammond conducted an impromptu and admittedly unscientific poll of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences he knew. They all said that the creators of Babylon would not leave the February gala without an Oscar. According to Hammond, the current whispering propaganda could be such an avalanche in two months that a serious mess can be expected at the award ceremony.

The 188-minute epic takes you to Hollywood’s changing era when cinema began to switch to sound, which heralded the twilight of the silent film stars. Such a character is played by Brad Pitt, whose figure was modeled after John Gilbert, one of the era’s biggest stars, and Margot Robbie shines next to him. In the unabashedly ambitious actress she portrays, initiates can easily recognize the great savior of old Hollywood, Clara Bow. The story’s true protagonist, however, is the young newcomer played by Diego Calva of Mexican origin, who is enchanted by the glamor of the dream factory with all its perversions and begins his triumphant journey to the top, only to pay dearly for his audacity.

According to Hammond, the first two-thirds of Babylon is an excellent comedy, and then quite dark shades begin to appear as soon as the heroes cross the limits of their possibilities and are caught in the vortex.

“What planted the bug in my ear was that I’ve always been interested in film history, especially the prehistory of Hollywood,” says screenwriter-director Damian Chazelle (Oscar winner for California Dream understood). – The end of the twenties was a strange time. A suicide epidemic devastated the dream factory; in addition, drug overdoses could be considered suicides, and all of this was to some extent related to the fact that the silent film was getting dark.”

Hammond reasons that members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences like movies that are about Hollywood, and they’re even happier when the production in question is done well. With this in mind, Babylon can win Oscar nominations in the main categories (best film, director, screenplay, lead actors). Then there’s also the visuals and the sound because Chazelle didn’t skimp on this either.

(Babylon – domestic release: January 19, 2023.)

Source: UIP DUNAFILM