It can give the feeling that Hollywood does not stop turning on itself with films reviewing his own past. People like Damien Chazelle are some of the usual suspects for bringing up this trend of navel-gazing and celebrating the film industry’s past. It’s understandable, especially with movies like ‘The City of Stars (La La Land)’ giving a bit of romanticism to a way of making movies.
A phenomenon that, on the other hand, is not new. From time to time the movie mecca needs to look at her photo albums, especially in moments of existential crisis. In this regard, ‘Babylon’ is an interesting example because of how exposes the tragedies and miseries Hollywood, especially at a time of transition. A film that seems to want to be the dark reverse of ‘La La Land’, but above all of one of the films that Chazelle has noticed the most in both films: ‘Singing in the rain’.
Film gone by water
Like ‘Babylon’, the film by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly looks at Hollywood at a time of change and a certain existential crisis, although its approach is much kinder and more charged by the euphoria of musical cinema and technicolor. Kelly plays a silent film star who is faced with the arrival of sound in movies, which is deeply shaking the industry, while also falling deeply in love with a young aspiring actress played by Debbie Reynolds.
Donen and Kelly look very astutely at several of the hard moments lived in that transition to talkies. The uncertainty before the arrival of ‘The jazz singer‘, the brake on the productions to try to adapt what was already underway to the new format, the training of the actors in aspects such as diction or staying on their marks so that the sound is captured, projections marked by disaster.
Anxieties that continue to be current, because Hollywood You are always faced with technological phenomena that you try to navigate as soon as possible even if it stumbles (change talkies for 3D or streaming and you will see how little things change). His behind-the-scenes look fully exposes some industry trends for capitalizing on potential hits.
‘Singing in the rain’: visual and sound exuberance
On the other hand, Kelly can’t help but offer the romantic side of this particular moment. And not only because of the obvious plot of romance, somewhat overloaded but which works wonderfully due to the chemistry between the actors, but also because of how it shows how the cinema was nourished by the power of vaudeville and musical numbers thanks to the possibilities of sound. Her intentions are clear from the moment she decides to turn ‘Singing in the Rain’, a musical moment from a forgotten film designed to expose the benefits of sound to the public, in the title of the film and in most memorable musical number.
The film also takes quite a bit from those first films converted to sound the art of introducing musical sequences without necessarily coming to the point. Scenes like ‘Buenos dias‘ either ‘Make ‘Em Laugh‘ if they offer turning points to the story, but others are merely to make lush displays of movement and color to captivate the viewers, without further lofty intentions. It cannot be denied, yes, that they work like a charm.
His way of embracing clownish comedy and at the same time talking about how to navigate a moment of change show the ability of ‘Singing in the rain’ of bring together popular art and the concerns of a self-satisfied Hollywood. An indelible gem that never loses strength, both for its cinematic vigor and for its (softened) reviews, and which is worth seeing again on HBO Max. Especially in relation to a ‘Babylon’ that plays with similar referents and pays attention to many of its keys, even if it is to subvert them and stain them with blood and shit.
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