January 2023

Hollywood Babylon

The meek rise to power, the mighty fall from grace, and everyone struggles with the seismic change known as “talkies” in Babylon, which explores the wild side of early Hollywood. There’s Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a young immigrant who arrives in L.A. with filmmaking aspirations and falls in love with free-spirited aspiring actor Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie); box-office star Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), whose career is on the verge of ruin; and struggling Black musician Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo), who helps usher in an era in which jazz artists are billed as screen stars. Babylon is the third feature collaboration between cinematographer Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF and director Damien Chazelle. As they had on La La Land (AC Jan. ’17) and...more