BABYLON

Writer/Director Damien Chazelle's homage to the birth of Hollywood. Set between 1926-1932 the film follows 4 characters: Brad Pitt's Jack Conrad, who's already an onscreen legend in the industry; Margot Robbie's Nellie LaRoy and Diego Calva's Manny Torres, who are both desperately seeking to break into the industry; and Jovan Adepo's Sidney Palmer, a trumpet player who happens to land himself in Hollywood without much effort or ambition. Overall the film (especially the first 20 minutes) are a study in debauchery and excess the likes of which few films have presented onscreen. Robbie is simply spectacular as the fiery and ferocious girl from Jersey Nellie, who knows she can be a star and is forward enough to make it happen. I've got my fingers crossed she can nab an Oscar for this. However, my real criticism of the film has to do with Adepo's Sidney character. This is the worst written character of the bunch, with barely any screen time compared to his costars, with an arc that is the weakest as well. In order to pick up pacing while at the same time cutting down on the run time, his character and story could really have been disposed of as it served very little purpose in the film. Outside of that, this is a lot of fun but probably won't make a lot of money at the box office. I still endorse a viewing whether theatrically or streaming when available. 7.5/10