Babel reviews

[Sonic Youth]

Penelope, you may find melodrama in films today but unfortunately you just won't find the likes of Lana Turner to wallow in it.

It's a different Hollywood out there!

Precisely! If Babel had been produced by Ross Hunter, Cate Blanchett woulda been racing around Morocco in gowns designed by Donatella Versace.

....with not a lacquered hair out of place!

God I miss those films.

There's always Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain.

[Reza]

Ok. Wait. I'm reading the plot description in the first review and I get to the point where the maid is trying to make it to the wedding and I'm thinking, wow, MELODRAMA!!!!!!!!!

I so miss the days of Ross Hunter.

Penelope, you may find melodrama in films today but unfortunately you just won't find the likes of Lana Turner to wallow in it.

It's a different Hollywood out there!

Precisely! If Babel had been produced by Ross Hunter, Cate Blanchett woulda been racing around Morocco in gowns designed by Donatella Versace.

....with not a lacquered hair out of place!

God I miss those films.

[Penelope]

Ok. Wait. I'm reading the plot description in the first review and I get to the point where the maid is trying to make it to the wedding and I'm thinking, wow, MELODRAMA!!!!!!!!!

I so miss the days of Ross Hunter.

Penelope, you may find melodrama in films today but unfortunately you just won't find the likes of Lana Turner to wallow in it.

It's a different Hollywood out there!

Precisely! If Babel had been produced by Ross Hunter, it's Brad Pitt that woulda been shot, and Cate Blanchett woulda been racing around Morocco in gowns designed by Donatella Versace.

[Reza]

Ok. Wait. I'm reading the plot description in the first review and I get to the point where the maid is trying to make it to the wedding and I'm thinking, wow, MELODRAMA!!!!!!!!!

I so miss the days of Ross Hunter.

Penelope, you may find melodrama in films today but unfortunately you just won't find the likes of Lana Turner to wallow in it.

It's a different Hollywood out there!

[Penelope]

Ok. Wait. I'm reading the plot description in the first review and I get to the point where the maid is trying to make it to the wedding and I'm thinking, wow, MELODRAMA!!!!!!!!!

I so miss the days of Ross Hunter.

[VanHelsing]

Michael Pena is in this as well? Great! Now I have two actors to look forward to in this film, the other one being Cate Blanchett.

[Mister Tee]

McCarthy, as usual, the least-positive of he trades -- but well above decent.

Babel

A Paramount Vantage (in U.S.) release of a Paramount Pictures and Paramount Classics presentation of an Anonymous Content, Zeta Film, Central Films production. (International sales: Summit Entertainment, Santa Monica.). Produced by Jon Kilik, Steve Golin, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Co-producer, Ann Ruark. Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Screenplay, Guillermo Arriaga, from an idea by Arriaga, Gonzalez Inarritu.

Richard - Brad Pitt
Susan - Cate Blanchett
Santiago - Gael Garcia Bernal
Yasujiro - Koji Yakusho
Amelia - Adriana Barraza
Chieko - Rinko Kikuchi
Ahmed - Said Tarchani
Yussef - Boubker Ait El Caid
Debbie - Elle Fanning
Mike - Nathan Gamble
Anwar - Mohamed Akhzam
Tom - Peter Wight
Hassan - Abdelkader Bara
Abdullah - Mustapha Rachidi
Alarid - Driss Roukhe
Officer at
Border Crossing - Clifton Collins Jr.
Luis - Robert Esquivel
John Border Patrol - Michael Pena
Mitsu - Yuko Murata
Kenji - Satoshi Nikaido


By TODD MCCARTHY


Brad Pitt stars in 'Babel.'


Parents and children cause an extraordinary amount of problems for one another in "Babel," a sweepingly ambitious epic of anxiety that tries to put its finger on an array of woes afflicting humanity in the early 21st century. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga's final entry in the trilogy that began with "Amores Perros" and continued with "21 Grams," new pic similarly features multiple intercut story strands, this time spread across three continents and, per the Biblical title, numerous languages. Effectively building dread and emotional tension as tragic incidents triggered by human stupidity and carelessness steadily multiply, this film, like "21 Grams" in particular, employs a deterministically grim mindset in the cause of its philosophical aspirations, but is gripping nearly all the way. Critical reactions will no doubt range fully across the map, much as they did with "Crash," which Paramount Vantage should be able to stir to its advantage in creating significant curiosity among American auds craving serious fare, and strong points of identification create real cross-over potential. International prospects are similarly promising.
The title alone is enough to indicate the director and writer's expansive intentions. But while their overall view may be far-reaching, the moment-to-moment focus remains highly specific, with each case involving wrenching life-and-death situations that on one hand are highly circumstantial and didn't have to happen, but on the other involve socio-political fallout that speaks directly to the current moment.

From the opening scene in which a goat-herder in a poor Moroccan mountain village acquires a high-powered hunting rifle and ill-advisedly gives it to his two young sons, it's clear the weapon will be put to some use other than its intended one of hunting jackals. Testing its range, one of the kids fires at a tourist bus making its way down a dusty road in the far distance.

In a middle-class Southern California home, two young blond children are looked after by Mexican nanny Amerlia (Adriana Barraza) who, after failing to find anyone with whom to leave the kids, decides in extremis to have them accompany her south of the border for the day so she can attend her son's wedding outside Tijuana.

Back in Morocco, Richard (Brad Pitt) and Susan (Cate Blanchett), the parents of the California kids who have gotten away to recover from the death of a third baby, are riding in the bus with their fellow tourists when Susan suddenly takes a bullet in the upper shoulder.

In Tokyo, foxy deaf-mute student Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) lets her considerable anger allow her volleyball team to lose, has a desultory meeting with her widowed father Yasujiro (Koji Yakusho) and, in an impulsive moment at a crowded restaurant, removes the underwear under her short school skirt and begins flashing her privates at boys at a nearby table.

Back in Morocco, the goatherd informs his boys that some terrorists have killed an American tourist on a bus.

And so it goes, as the filmmakers continue layering urgent distress, irrational behavior, bad luck, misunderstandings, frustrations, erroneous media reports, zealous security responses and downright dumb headedness to shape a tale that despairs at the state of human relations even in the absence of bad intentions or outright evil on the part of anyone involved.

One narrative lapse proves intensely bothersome at the outset: Why does Amelia wait until the very day of her son's wedding to try to make arrangements for the kids? The film simply requires acceptance of this illogical situation, but one is inclined not to grant it.

Some viewers may also be bothered by the fact that the Japanese storyline initially seems unrelated to the other two, which are instantly connected. But its gathering strength, and the provocatively inventive ways Chieko's overwhelming frustration is externalized, make its cool surfaces and modernity welcome breaks from the hot, dusty settings of the other dramas.

As the Moroccan story plays out in bits and pieces, Richard and the heavily bleeding Susan are given refuge in a remote village while awaiting an ambulance and testing the patience of their fellow travelers, who suspect they're in danger of further attacks. Meanwhile, local police exercise little restraint as they try to put a cap on what rapidly becomes, given the current climate, an international incident.

The situation for the couple's far-away children and their nanny goes from bad to worse in Mexico, reaching genuinely harrowing levels during a lost-in-the-desert odyssey and incidentally touching on hot-button illegal immigrant and border security issues in strictly personal rather than political terms.

The Tokyo story, in the end, unwinds in the most unpredictable manner of the three, reaching a moving height of subjectivity when the soundtrack flips between sound and silence during a wild disco evening to underline Chieko's sensory remove and creatively conveying her aching need for an emotional connection.

The way the story resolutions are distributed among the various characters may disturb some discerning viewers in their racial/ethnic makeup, and there could be carping in some quarters about a degree of exoticism, despite the fact that Gonzalez Inarritu has gone to great lengths to properly portray all the locations, present everyone in an untouristy way (including the tourists) and cast non-pros recruited locally in many roles, very effectively so.

Unlike the strenuous dramatics on view in "21 Grams," stars involved at the top of the cast here deliver unshowy, naturalistic perfs. Pitt brings weight and strength that a lesser name might not have provided as Robert, who must endure the uncertainty of his wife's fate on one front and that of his children on another.

Blanchett spends most of the picture either in agony or passed out on the floor of a hut, but even this she does with customary elegance. Gael Garcia Bernal submerges his natural charm to play Amelia's unreliable nephew, whose only responsibility is to drive the group safely over the border and back.

Barraza makes abundantly manifest the rising panic and torment Amelia endures for her misjudgment, and both sets of kids--Said Tarchani and Boubker Ait El Caid as the Moroccan boys and Elle Fanning and Nathan Gamble as the Yanks--are outstandingly expressive without histrionics or cutes.

Kikuchi, however, registers with the most challenging and distinctive perf as a teen who must communicate via sign language and feels a social and emotional outcast for all her physical allure.

Production contributions are excellent, with Rodrigo Prieto's rugged lensing at one with the mostly barren landscapes, Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise's editing adroitly intertwining the narrative threads and Gustavo Santaolalla's grave, inventively arranged original score supplementing numerous tunes on the soundtrack.

[Mister Tee]

And a story from the BBC:


A film in four languages and set on four continents has become the strong favourite to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Babel is directed by Alejandro Inarritu and stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and a host of unknowns.

On Tuesday it was being hailed in France as the first great film about globalisation. After the first press showing in the world, the movie received rapturous applause. This was despite a technical problem that forced the screening to be halted for 10 minutes. At a press conference later, Inarritu was asked if had written his Palme d'Or acceptance speech.

"My philosophy is low expectation and high serenity," said the Mexican director.

[Mister Tee]

And here's Wells:


Alejando Gonzalez Innaritu's Babel, which press-screened this morning, is, I believe, a lock to win the Palme D'Or. It's an incredibly shrewd and brilliant film about all of us...about frailty, interconnectedness, aloneness and particularly parents and children. It exudes compassion and acute precision with every frame, shot, edit and line of dialogue. I ####ing loved it.

It's one of those "small" portraits of humanity writ large...and like I mentioned in my Inarritu interview a week and a half ago, it becomes larger and richer and more poignant the more you think about it.

Some in the post-screening press conference were asking Innaritu, "So...what's it all about, really?" That plus the hearty applause and whoo-whoos from the press at the end of the screening tells me it's one of those film that resonates in a way that's fuller and deeper than any concisely worded "meaning" or "explanation."

The teeming energy before the packed press conference began, and the respectful applause given to each player when they were announced at the press conference got underway...you can just feel that this film has connected in a big way.

[Mister Tee]

Nothing in Variety yet, but Hollywood Reporter here is a serious rave. For what it's worth, Jeff Wells reacts the same. I've been lukewarm at best on Innaritu, but it sounds like he's hit it out of the park.


Babel


By Ray Bennett
Bottom line: Shattering and unforgettable.


Tense, relentless and difficult to watch at times, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" is an emotionally shattering drama in which a simple act of kindness leads to events that pierce our veneer of civilization and bring on the white noise of terror.

Inarritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga involve six families, most of them not known to one another, in four countries on three continents in their story of random fate and the perils of being unable to communicate.

Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal give committed ensemble performances alongside seasoned character performers and non-actors as the story ranges from Morocco to San Diego to Tokyo.

The film, which also features exceptional work by director of photography Rodrigo Prieto, production designer Brigitte Broch, editors Stephen Mirrione and Douglas Crise, and composer Gustavo Santaolalla, is headed for major prizes and large, appreciative audiences.

As with his previous films, Inarritu tells his story using scenes out of order so that the pieces fall together in a jagged form that heightens the tension. It starts in the Moroccan desert, where a man buys a Winchester rifle from a neighbor to help keep the jackals away from his herd of goats. A Japanese hunter had gifted the neighbor with the rifle in gratitude for his work as a guide.

The rifle is entrusted to the goat herder's two young sons who end up firing it from a mountainside at a coach filled with Western tourists just to see how far the bullet would go.

The bullet, however, strikes an American named Susan (Blanchett) who is traveling with her husband Richard (Pitt) in attempt to patch up their marriage following the death of a child.

Four hours from the nearest hospital, the coach takes a detour to a remote village where a local man offers shelter while the other tourists argue over whether to stay or leave.

Desperate, Richard phones the U.S. embassy pleading for help and also calls home in San Diego where their long-time maid Amelia (Adriana Barraza) is caring for their other two children. With Susan bleeding and near death in the desert, he begs Amelia to remain with the kids as he tries to get help.

Amelia's son, however, is getting married across the border and, having exhausted attempts to find another sitter, she decides to take the kids with her to the wedding in a car driven by her friendly but hot-headed nephew Santiago (Bernal).

As Richard fights to keep Susan alive with the help of a wise and calm old Moroccan woman and a veterinarian, the shooting escalates into an international incident with security forces believing terrorists to be responsible and hunting for the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a young deaf-mute woman named Chieko (Rinko Kikuchi) is grappling with the loss of her mother by suicide, fighting with her equally bereft father (Koji Yakusho), and trying to deal with the frustrations of adolescence.

The filmmakers succeed brilliantly in weaving these stories together, taking time to explore depth of character and relationships. The suspense builds throughout as everyone involved becomes lost in a place they don't understand with people they don't know if they can trust.

Several astonishing Tokyo sequences replicate what it might be like to be deaf-mute, and equal imagination is applied to scenes at night in the wasteland of the Mexico/California border and the barren mountains of Morocco.

This is not a fear-mongering movie, but it is unpredictable and shocking, with compassion hanging on for dear life.