Babylon
Cert 18| ★★★✩✩

Director Damien Chazelle has had a near-perfect Hollywood trajectory so far with his productions Whiplash, La La Land and First Man, lauded by film lovers across the globe. It seemed as if the Franco-American director could do no wrong in the eyes of critics — until he returned with his latest film Babylon, a three-hour saga set in the early days of Hollywood.

Brad Pitt stars as an ageing silent-film leading man — think Douglas Fairbanks or Rudolf Valentino — and the film features two stellar performances from Aussie star Margot Robbie and Mexican-born actor Diego Calva, best known for his role in the TV series Narcos.

The film also marks another fruitful collaboration between Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz, who recently took home the prize for Best Original Score at the Golden Globes for his work on the soundtrack. Linus Sandgren, also a frequent Chazelle collaborator, delivers a precise and breathtaking cinematography.

Kicking off in 1926 in the Hollywood Hills, Babylon follows the trajectory of ambitious jack-of-all-trades Manny (Calva) from lowly handyman to respected studio executive.

While working on organising yet another debauched all-nighter for his current boss, Manny meets and falls head over heels for up-and-coming starlet Nellie LeRoy, a Clara Bow type whose fondness for pleasure-seeking and drug-taking are surpassed only by her apparent natural acting abilities.

Babylon (6)

Lukas Haas, left, and Diego Calva

At the party, Nellie is offered a role in a soon-to-be-shot epic silent movie starring ageing lothario Jack Conrad (Pitt). Meanwhile, Manny has also been offered his real first job working on the set of the same movie.

We follow as Manny and Nellie’s careers rise, taking them to the top of the film industry’s food chain and then back to the bottom again.

Babylon is not so much a film of two halves, but a third of a brilliant movie and two hours of unmitigated mess and chaos. Chazelle’s usual affinity for precise filmmaking takes a back seat here, leaving him to unleash his innermost indulgent self.

He delivers a killer of an opening sequence — one of the greatest ever made. Sadly, the whole thing falls apart after that, and we are left a little bereft and puzzled.

Chazelle has pursued his vision exactly the way he had imagined it, but his film feels a little too pleased with itself. Still, it’s not all bad. Pitt, Robbie et al give it their best. I just would have preferred something slightly more coherent from such a good film-maker.