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Babylon

1980

Franco Rosso

Brinsley Forde, Karl Howman, Trevor Laird, Brian Bovell, Victor Romero Evans

6.8

79

Drama The movie centers around Brindsley Forde's character blue. He fronts a reggae sound system based in west London. The movie captures the trials and tribulations of young black youths in troubled London in the early eighties.

	Author	Review
United States	John DeFore The Hollywood Reporter	"An English cousin to the earlier Jamaica-set films 'The Harder They Come' and 'Rockers' that is vastly superior in cinematic terms and just as valuable as a cultural document"	POS
United States	Wesley Morris The New York Times	"All of that observation in 'Babylon' amounts to something that still feels new"	POS
United States	Variety	"Like the reggae music that pulses through it, 'Babylon' is rich, rough and real. And like the streetlife of the young black Londoners it portrays, it’s threatening, touching, violent and funny."	POS
United States	Candice Frederick The Wrap	"The screenplay by [Rosso and Stellman] deserves acclaim for highlighting the stories of marginalized young black men in a city still predominantly depicted through a white male gaze."	POS
United States	Jonathan Christian The Playlist	"The film’s commendable intentions never quite meet the sloppily nuanced, emotionally void execution that strips 'Babylon' of any noteworthy merit."	NEG
United Kingdom	Time Out	"Although the script runs out of steam by the end, the sharp use of location, the meticulous detailing of black culture, the uniformly excellent performances and stimulating soundtrack command attention."	POS

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