Post-Oscar watch: Babel

Once I found out that Babel was considered by several critics to be the frontrunner in this year's Oscar race, I stuck it in the Netflix queue and got around to watching it a few nights ago.

Overall, it was OK. The movie revolves around 4 separate characters, who are all loosely connected to a shooting in a deserted area of Morocco. Each character is struggles with communicating and connecting with his/her surroundings. The title "Babel" refers to the biblical story in which God purposely confuses the previously uniform language of humanity in order to prevent humankind from working together to build a tower to the heavens.

1) My mind started wandering halfway through the movie, and I caught myself glancing at the clock several times. That's not usually good. Events unfolded pretty slowly in this film.

2) The scenes in Babel are shot slightly out of order, similar to director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's previous film "21 Grams." Like "21 Grams," this technique reveals the entire story early in the film, such that the major events are known to the audience before they witness it. My interpretation of this technique is that the director wants characters and emotions to be the primary focus of the film, NOT the events themselves. The actual events and the connections between the 4 main characters are secondary to the story and in some ways not really important at all.

3) Of all the Best Picture nominees I've seen so far, this one has the best set of performances by far. As great as Helen Mirren was in the Queen, "Babel" has a slew of great acting by a bunch of actors heretofore unknown to mainstream American audiences. Mexican actress Adriana Baraza, Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi, and Hollywood actor Brad Pitt all have great scenes and moments, but the supporting performances are all excellent as well.

4) Btw, I think that Brad Pitt is underrated as an actor in the same way Stephen King is underrated as a writer. Both are hugely successful, unbelievably wealthy, and very famous, yet neither ever seem to get credit for being as talented as they are. Stephen King is best known as a horror writer, but his body of work goes far beyond that. Ditto for Brad Pitt, who's best known for looking like Brad Pitt, yet he's got a body of solid work over the years (12 Monkeys, Fight Club, River Runs through It, Seven, just off the top of my head). OK, maybe comparing to Stephen King is a little much--I swear I don't have a man crush on Brad...er, Mr. Pitt.

Bottom line: this is an interesting movie that's REALLY well acted, but like "21 Grams," it's kinda boring. I think I would have been pretty disappointed if this movie won Best Picture. As it stands now, I'd say that my ranking from best to worst would like this:

1) Letters from Iwo Jima
2) The Departed
3) Babel
4) The Queen
Not yet seen: Little Miss Sunshine