Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

BABEL - art or fart?

14:51 / 22.01.07

didn't see a thread for this movie here. I just saw it yesterday and need to discuss [is it being shown in the UK?]. so, to put things in context for those not aware, wikipedia [spoilerish link] will let you know:

Babel is a Golden Globe Award-winning 2006 film by the Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga. It stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Kôji Yakusho, and Gael García Bernal. The multinarrative drama completes González Iñárritu's "death trilogy" that also consists of Amores Perros and 21 Grams.

I thought it didn't live up to the hype, a major let-down actually...

the main goal seemed to be to portrail [mis]communications in the world of today, and how that can bring us together or separate us completely. BABEL is beautifully shot and there's some pretty nice acting work by the cast - Rinko Kikuchi is great as a deaf girl in the japanese segment [the one I liked most, and with more untied knots].

but that was about it for me. the movie's situations felt overall forced to the point that the melodrama had me laughing a bit in the mexican segment. Iñárritu has painted the stories with such self-important tones [just fit for awards] that eclipsed the strenght of his intent in creating an allegory for Globalization.

worse: it seemed to dive into the exploitation of poverty's embellishment to reinforce Human misery, and that's a discourse very hard to get right, aesthetically speaking [dunno if this is clear].

I'll get into detail later, but first your take:

00:28 / 26.01.07

I thought the film was great, though I can certainly see the issues you had with it. The thing that makes this movie different from something like Crash is that it was more emotionally real. I don't think it lapsed into melodrama, the events that happened built logically out of character reactions. Even though there was this overarching connection of the gunshot, the characters still had their own agency and there were few ridiculous coincidences.

And, I thought the cinematography and score were absolutely fantastic, really alive and powerful. My favorite sequence was the Japanese part, and even though I liked the film as was, a 90 minute movie about Chieko may have been a better way to go. With the simple absence of a soundtrack, we're given access to how she views the world, and all that she's missing. The club scene in particular was amazing, showing her learning to operate in that world and then quickly having her heart cut out when she sees that guy with her friend.

05:29 / 26.01.07

The Ball house is split on this one. Mrs The Ball hasn't seen 21 Grams and is very interested in seeing this - I have seen 21 Grams and found it to be melodrama at its worst, cutting from one over-emotting actor to the next with no respite. It put me off the Director completely, and so have very very little interest in seeing Babel - as much as I like Cate Blanchet.

07:10 / 26.01.07

As much as I enjoyed Amores Perros, I haven't seen 21 Grams, though I keep on meaning to ... it's just that the right mood never quite presents itself - as I understand it, Amores Perros is a light, screwball comedy in comparison; accordingly, and given the apparent artistic curve, I suppose I'd rather have a go at my toenails with a set of pliars than watch Babel. I could easily be wrong, but from the way it's been publicised it seems like such painful, leaden cinema, as if by buying a ticket you're signing up for being sledgehammered by the issues for close to three hours.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

18:21 / 26.01.07

Oddly, I was listening to the Amores Perros soundtrack this morning on the walk to work and even mentioned it somewhere else on the board.

Haven't seen Babel yet, but I've had it lavishly described to me by several people, and it seems all the world like Iñárritu is kind of like the filmic version of Trent Reznor: his equipment and technical proficiency keeps growing and improving, but he's unable to just stop going on about how just awful everything is.

The line from Amores Perros to 21 Grams already saw Iñárritu exhibit a kind of high-school pessimism that ramped up to match the bigger budget and better techniques, and everything I hear of Babel suggests that he's clinging to that ratio like very sad lichen to a black rock that people can see but nobody can really understand. You know, inside.

Has Von Trier met his miserable match?

20:28 / 26.01.07

21 Grams is a relentlessly depressing film, but one of the things I really liked about Babel was the moments of just pure joy sprinkled in among the troubles. Without spoiling things, I'll just mention that the Mexican wedding sequence, and the fountain/initial club part were some of the most joyous cinema I've seen. Now, you could argue that this joy only exists to make the bad stuff that happens even more wrenching, but that's not what I took away from it.

19:25 / 03.08.08

Just watched this and liked it a lot more than I expected after reading various half hearted reviews.

I agree with Patrick that those two scenes in particular show what a good director of ambience and atmosphere he is. The characterisation and story were fine for me if not mindblowing, but I think that this helps it flow along as a mood piece, a sort ofmeditation on separateness and barriers between people.

There were so many two sided situations set up where something was a barrier to communication or understanding between people.

Deaf/Hearing
Daughter/Father
Male/Female (Brad & Cate segment)
Mexican/American
Moroccan(third world)/Tourists(the west)

14:39 / 22.08.08

I agree with COG. Just loved the communication theme.

Can someone please tell me if the brother of the shooter died at the end? I may have been falling asleep, but I could have sworn he died.