In case you missed it, Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, his long-gestating epic about Early Hollywood excess, has started screening for critics, and let’s just say that reaction is mixed, at best. It is wonderful to see how divisive it is amongst both the Chazelle faithful — who rightfully recognize First Man for the masterpiece that it is — and the skeptics, whose hatred of La La Land has rendered any discussion of the man’s whole career into a referendum on a single film. It reminds us a ton of the response to Blonde, albeit a bit more muted, given that everybody didn’t just have access to it all at once. But we’ll be real with you: Every knock against this film has us acting like that Vince McMahon meme. Our ears perk up at the words “overlong,” we get even more enticed by the words “self-indulgent,” and by the time “tasteless” rolls around, we’re in the process of falling out of our chairs. This new trailer – packed with stars and glamor – is just the icing on the top of this particular gateaux.
Peep it:
Here’s one of those synopses we love to hate, which tells you virtually thing about the movie beyond its cast and the most minute description of its plot. But honestly, you really don’t need much more than this to sell someone on why they should see it:
“From Damien Chazelle, ‘Babylon’ is an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles led by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Diego Calva, with an ensemble cast including Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li and Jean Smart. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.”
All you have to do, in fact, is omit the fact that this movie is three hours and eight minutes long. Even the largest bladders might have some trouble getting through Babylon.
Anyhow, Babylon will hit theaters on December 23, but we can’t wait to get into the critical fracas a bit sooner than that, because this sounds like our shit.