Babylon (2022)

Running at close to three hours, and feeling every minute that long, this is all about the oppulence of movies themselves, and more importantly, the making of them. This is a lavish 1920s-period piece about how often the silver screen images that feel like magic are really the product of incredibly hard work, broken dreams, and a lot of luck. Multiple sequences throughout the movie detail how much work goes into two seconds of film, whether it's a field of dozens of extras sitting around while a camera is obtained or the difficult perfection needed when recording sound. And there is a lot of focus on the people who make it happen at the cellular level, who are not the people who get all the glory. This is a film of stunning parts—both individual scenes, performances, and tech elements—but it feels like the magic touch needed to pull them together in an honest way is out of reach. There's something to be said about a film being so robustly unapologetic in it's storytelling, but I could have done with a tighter plot and an hour less time invested.