There’s a lot to digest in Damien Chazelle’s overstuffed Hollywood epic, “Babylon.” The story of three disparate movie denziens trying to survive the transition between the silent era and the talkies boasts some stellar performances, but what people might remember after the credits roll is just how wild Chazelle’s hedonistic world is. As he sees it, the silent era of Hollywood is packed to bursting with orgies, dancing, booze, woozy elephants, and a lot of nudity. Oh, and a ton of cocaine.
To many modern-day viewers, cocaine is likely more synonymous with ’80s excess than the supposed glamour of the ’20s. Movies like “Goodfellas” and “Less Than Zero” present cocaine as a party drug of a more contemporary era, so it’s understandable that it would show up in Chazelle’s film, particularly its raucous opening party sequence, as the filmmaker threads historical accuracies with his own special skew.
To many modern-day viewers, cocaine is likely more synonymous with ’80s excess than the supposed glamour of the ’20s. Movies like “Goodfellas” and “Less Than Zero” present cocaine as a party drug of a more contemporary era, so it’s understandable that it would show up in Chazelle’s film, particularly its raucous opening party sequence, as the filmmaker threads historical accuracies with his own special skew.
- 12/22/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
[Editor’s note: The below piece was originally published on February 26, 2019. It has been expanded from the 100 greatest films directed by women of all time to the 111 greatest, as of October 3, 2020.]
For as long as there have been movies, there have been women making them. When the Lumière brothers were shocking audiences with their unbelievable depiction of a running train, Alice Guy-Blaché was pioneering her own techniques in the brand-new artform. When D.W. Griffith was pioneering advances in the art, and building his own studio to make his work, Lois Weber was doing, well, the exact same thing.
When Hollywood was deep in its Golden Age, Dorothy Arzner, Dorothy Davenport, Tressie Souders, and many more women were right there, making their own films. It’s not even a trend that really abated, because it was never a trend. For so long, women being filmmakers was simply part of the norm, and while recent studies have made it clear that the industry needs a wake-up call when it comes to the skills of some of our finest working filmmakers (who just so...
For as long as there have been movies, there have been women making them. When the Lumière brothers were shocking audiences with their unbelievable depiction of a running train, Alice Guy-Blaché was pioneering her own techniques in the brand-new artform. When D.W. Griffith was pioneering advances in the art, and building his own studio to make his work, Lois Weber was doing, well, the exact same thing.
When Hollywood was deep in its Golden Age, Dorothy Arzner, Dorothy Davenport, Tressie Souders, and many more women were right there, making their own films. It’s not even a trend that really abated, because it was never a trend. For so long, women being filmmakers was simply part of the norm, and while recent studies have made it clear that the industry needs a wake-up call when it comes to the skills of some of our finest working filmmakers (who just so...
- 10/3/2020
- by Kate Erbland, Eric Kohn, Christian Blauvelt, Anne Thompson, David Ehrlich, Chris O'Falt, Zack Sharf, Jude Dry, Tom Brueggemann, Bill Desowitz, Tambay Obenson and Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
By the time Timothée Chalamet signed up to play a drug addict for “Beautiful Boy,” the role that would change his life was already in the can. It was “Call Me By Your Name” that would earn him an Oscar nomination, an invite to the Academy, an enviable slew of offers, and a fanbase so dedicated to the young star that they go by the catchy moniker “Chalamaniacs.” The actor was cast in Felix Van Groeningen’s addiction drama “Beautiful Boy” in February 2017, just weeks after Luca Guadagnino’s romantic epic debuted at Sundance, kicking off what would end up being a months-long awards campaign that forever altered Chalamet’s career trajectory.
The part of Nic Sheff offered Chalamet yet another chance to slip inside an emotional role, but Van Groeningen’s big screen adaptation of two books about Sheff’s teenage drug addiction demanded that the actor further stretch himself and his talents.
The part of Nic Sheff offered Chalamet yet another chance to slip inside an emotional role, but Van Groeningen’s big screen adaptation of two books about Sheff’s teenage drug addiction demanded that the actor further stretch himself and his talents.
- 10/11/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Last week Kino Lorber launched a new Kickstarter aimed to fund their latest project “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” a collection of important American films directed by women, including Alice Guy Blaché, Lois Weber, Nell Shipman, Dorothy Davenport, and many more, between 1910 and 1929.
The ambitious project will be presented in association with the Library of Congress and be the largest commercially-released video collection of films by female helmers. It will include HD restorations of both the most important films of the era, as well as lesser-known works, including short films, fragments and isolated chapters of incomplete serials.
“By showcasing the ambitious, inventive films from the golden age of women directors, we can get a sense of what was lost by the marginalization of women to ‘support roles’ within the film industry,” reads the Kickstarter page.
Read More: ‘The Eyeslicer,’ A New Variety Series By and For Indie Filmmakers, Launches Kickstarter Campaign...
The ambitious project will be presented in association with the Library of Congress and be the largest commercially-released video collection of films by female helmers. It will include HD restorations of both the most important films of the era, as well as lesser-known works, including short films, fragments and isolated chapters of incomplete serials.
“By showcasing the ambitious, inventive films from the golden age of women directors, we can get a sense of what was lost by the marginalization of women to ‘support roles’ within the film industry,” reads the Kickstarter page.
Read More: ‘The Eyeslicer,’ A New Variety Series By and For Indie Filmmakers, Launches Kickstarter Campaign...
- 10/25/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Women suffrage movie 'Mothers of Men': Dorothy Davenport becomes a judge and later State Governor in socially conscious thriller about U.S. women's voting rights. Women suffrage movie 'Mothers of Men': Will women's right to vote lead to the destruction of The American Family? Directed by and featuring the now all but forgotten Willis Robards, Mothers of Men – about women suffrage and political power – was a fast-paced, 64-minute buried treasure screened at the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, held June 2–5. I thoroughly enjoyed being taken back in time by this 1917 socially conscious drama that dares to ask the question: “What will happen to the nation if all women have the right to vote?” One newspaper editor insists that women suffrage would mean the destruction of The Family. Women, after all, just did not have the capacity for making objective decisions due to their emotional composition. It...
- 7/1/2016
- by Danny Fortune
- Alt Film Guide
Saturday nights are perfect for watching cinematic garbage. Old cinematic garbage, in particular. And while directors Dorothy Davenport and Melville Shyer’s 1934 educational opus “The Road to Ruin” isn’t the worst “scare flick” to come out of the early exploitation scene, it’s definitely a little rough around the edges. However, this morally-minded motion picture does come with a well-polished lesson: If you drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and engage in premarital sex, you will have an abortion and die. That’s just the way it is. Here’s a synopsis, though it won’t tell you anything you don’t already know: A young girl gets involved with a crowd that smokes marijuana, drinks and has sex. She winds up an alcoholic, pregnant drug addict and is forced to get an abortion. I told you so. Dorothy Davenport and Melville Shyer’s “The Road to Ruin” in all its glory has been embedded below.
- 7/29/2012
- by Todd Rigney
- Beyond Hollywood
Screenwriter Frederica Sagor Dead at 111: Wrote Movies for Norma Shearer (photo), Clara Bow, Louise Brooks Now, whether Frederica Sagor's Hollywood Babylon-like tales bear any resemblance to what actually happened at studio parties and private soirees, I can't tell. But on the professional side, one problem with the information found in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim is that studios invariably used numerous writers, whether male or female, in their projects. Usually, in those pre-Writers Guild days, only two or three contributors received final credit, not because of the uncredited writer's gender but in large part because the final product oftentimes had little — if anything — in common with the original source. While doing research for my Ramon Novarro biography, I went through various drafts, written by various hands, of his movies. A Certain Young Man, for instance, went through so many changes (including director, cast, and title), that the final film...
- 1/7/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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