Babylon is a Hollywood fever dream

? Some filmmakers make movies. Others make love letters to movies. And then there’s Babylon. Babylon is Damien Chazelle’s fever-dream opera about the grotesque chaos of early Hollywood — a film that doesn’t so much celebrate cinema as it does drag it through the dirt. This isn’t just a film. It’s an unhinged, 189 minute, jazz-fueled rampage through the Roaring ’20s, packed with debauchery, ambition, and the inevitability of downfall that goes hand in hand with fame.

At the eye of the storm is Manny Torres (Diego Calva), an outsider clawing his way into the industry — ambitious but complicit. Then there’s Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie), an aspiring actress who crashes onto the scene like a tornado of talent and self-destruction, and Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), an aging leading man watching the industry shift under his feet. These three protagonists navigate a Hollywood that’s more battlefield than dream factory, each with their own reckless momentum pushing them toward glory — or oblivion.

The industry doesn’t care how talented you are, it cares whether you can keep up. Beneath the chaos you get to take a look at an industry that chews people up and spits them out. The transition from silent films to talkies hits suddenly, with one particular soundstage scene highlighting just how brutal the shift was.

The actors shone in their performances: Robbie is obsess-worthy as Nellie, playing her as both luminous and tragic, a woman who burns too bright and too fast. Pitt, meanwhile, leans into the melancholy with a performance that winks at old-school Hollywood bravado while acknowledging its inevitable expiration date. And Calva? He’s the audience’s anchor, the character who transforms the most, proving that the industry changes people, whether they like it or not.

Of course, Babylon isn’t without its flaws. It’s (very) lengthy, and its sensory overload and lack of censorship might push some viewers away. But Babylon is never boring, it’s a maximalist, unrelenting, love-it-or-hate-it spectacle. But a friendly heads up, it’s made for adult viewership — so maybe tuck the kids away before putting it on.

WHERE TO WATCH- You can find the film on Apple TV+ and Netflix or watch the trailer on YouTube (runtime: 2:25).