Babel

What I appreciate about Iñárritu is how he is able to sensitively tell the story of the hardships of an ordinary person. However, it’s also the same plot concept for the third time, which is unfortunate because about halfway through the film moves into the plane of expectation and the inevitable boredom that comes with it. This fact is reinforced by the relatively shallow and detached segment with Richard and Susan and especially the Tokyo segment, which is completely out of context. Fortunately, both are amply compensated by the story of the little Moroccan shooters (the best part of it for me). (11/04/2007)

For me, this film by Alejandro González Iñárritu is right between Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Once again, the director relies on several stories in which the characters' fates intertwine more than one would expect. And he does it that again, but, unlike 21 Grams, where I liked all the stories, the one with the Japanese girl didn't really fit. I had the same dilemma with Amores Perros, where I knocked 1* off the rating because of the hysterical ex-model. Half of the film is based on an excellent sequence of images, accompanied by a wonderful score (deserved Oscar!), often better than the redundant and boring script. As for the acting, I was most impressed with Adriana Barraza and (despite my issues with  her story) Rinko Kikuchi. The rest of the cast was also good, but these two performances just stood out. So, I would like to say that Babel is a film that is definitely not lacking in quality. Its weakness may have been its running time, but that's up to each individual. I probably wouldn't watch it a second time, but who knows? All in all, a better 4*. (06/22/2010)

Director Inarritu once again moves in a terrain he knows intimately, bringing several parallel storylines to the screen, which intersect at a certain point and with certain characters. He once again delivers heightened emotions, moral conflicts, clashes of values, and cruel dramas. This time, he also seeks to explore various cultures in a globalized world. Only the story from Tokyo didn't fit into the whole, although I understand that Inarritu couldn't resist incorporating into his film a panoramic shot of Tokyo illuminated by neon lights and thousands of bulbs. This section of the film reminded me more of Atom Egoyan's productions and deserves its own film. Overall, it seemed to me that, unlike his debut film Amores Perros, this film contains less energy and leans more toward beautiful camera shots capturing the rocky Sahara, wedding celebrations in Mexico, or the Nevada desert. However, it is such a visually mesmerizing spectacle that I have no problem awarding it five stars. Inarritu is one of the most talented directors of our time. Overall impression: 90%. (07/04/2010)

An ambitious shot in the dark. It has some moral ideas, but they’re wrapped in an insanely lengthy filler that pretends to be an artistic rebellion against the traditional narrative, but it's just a few classically punctuated episodes in an aimless structure. The actors are excellent and some scenes are very strong, but that's not enough. 2 ½*. (08/06/2018)

Babel floats stylishly on the surface, but it fails to go any deeper. The content of the two main storylines comes across as half-empty, and the third storyline, though it holds the strongest potential, doesn’t add anything to them. If I gave 21 Grams four stars, I have to stick with three in this case. Nice visuals, great atmospheric music and good actors aren’t everything. P.S. Chieko should have jumped. (02/28/2007)