If there is one movie that should be called “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” it’s not the Tarantino film that came out a few years ago, honestly, it should be Babylon. It’s truly Once Upon a Time in Hollywood because it’s more accurate of what old Hollywood used to be. Filmmaking in the 1920s, especially when moving from silent pictures to sound was like the wild west. It was crazy, chaotic, manic, and beautiful. No other time in Hollywood did you have an actual Orchestra on location recording the music as they were filming the scenes. We don’t have to do that anymore, but if you want a more accurate picture of what Hollywood used to be especially when you could break 10 cameras just to get a couple of scenes in one day and all the actors were hungover from a party that showed the true debauchery of Hollywood can you get that in the film Babylon. The title is not just a name, it’s a metaphor! The movie centers on three different characters who represent a variety of old Hollywood stars through their rise and fall during the Heyday of Hollywood. You have the number one box office leading man who has a hard time transitioning to talkies, you have the young starlet whose excess will kill her career, and the rising director whose star will shine so bright that it will quickly fade away so that in the years to come nobody will remember who he was. The story takes place over a few years as silent films are moving into sound. It wasn’t hard for stars to rise and become famous in three to four years and for famous stars to fall from grace back then.

The cast is what makes this movie work. Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie absolutely shine. Diego Calva is also great as the rising director that is tasked with resurrecting the career of Margot Robbie’s character. But you also have a great ensemble cast with great cameos by Luke Haas, Jeff Garlin, Olivia Wilde, and Katherine Watterson. The cinematography really stands out in this film, especially the scenes of them trying to make movies with all the action and the orchestra in one place. And at the same time, the filmmakers do not shy away from the indulgences of old Hollywood. They are true to detail when it comes to filmmaking during the silent era to how they created a soundstage when talkies became popular. The film is just as much about the rise and fall of Hollywood stars as how crazy filmmaking was back in the 1920s when you relied so much on natural light, and you couldn’t do everything you can do on a soundstage or in a studio. But the Brilliance of the movie is how the three main stars represent three different metaphors such as the up-and-coming actress, the up-and-coming director, and the Hollywood leading man whose career is essentially over. And there are no more brutal truths represented in this movie than the scene between the gossip columnist and the Hollywood leading man when she gives him sheer honesty that his career is over which, and this is a bit of a spoiler, will lead to his suicide. Babylon is a very artistic film and beautifully shot. Damien Chazelle’s use of color palettes from black and white to films being shot in color truly represents how raw filmmaking was in the 1920s. Yes, this movie is shot and high definition, but still has that classic feel of filmmaking. I loved it.

However, the performances and how beautifully they shot the film do not make it a perfect movie. It is an ode to old Hollywood even with the runtime. It feels like a big opus spread across the big screen very much just Ben-Hur and Lawrence of Arabia. But 3 hours makes for a long movie without any intermission. It doesn’t really feel like 3 hours that you get to the end and have ending scenes that are meant to be artistic. There is a lot going on in this movie not a story to tell and I’m not saying that you can tell this office in less than 3 hours just like a classic movie, and intermission in the middle would have been perfect. I feel the film’s biggest flaw is at times trying to be too artistic while not letting the story just unfold naturally. You see each of these three main characters at different points in their career. There are some very emotional scenes that really drive the story, especially when the gossip columnist is telling the leading man that his career is over. However, the film is full of even the most grotesque scenes that force you not to look away and see how Hollywood truly was back then.  But beneath the surface, it was dark, disgusting, and poetic. Tobey Maguire has one of the best cameos, portraying, the rich producer who takes pride in finding the most disgusting aspect of humanity. He represents so many different kinds of producers in Hollywood who are so fake on the outside that only in their discussing indulgences do we see who they really are.

In some ways, this movie could have been a two-part movie, but it is a beautiful ode to classic Hollywood. Babylon is truly a filmmaker’s film and I think it gives a truer version of what Hollywood was like and still is in a lot of ways than a movie like The Fabelmans. You don’t even need to know all the names of the characters because they represent so many different actors, producers, and directors from Classic Hollywood / That’s what makes this film worth seeing. For anybody who loves movies, especially the history of movies, this is a must-see. Babylon is one of the best movies of this year and it’s a better owed to Hollywood than anything Quentin Tarantino could ever make.