A warning, this episode contains mention of domestic abuse.

The new film, Babylon, is all about silent era old Hollywood, new technology, the intoxication

of being famous, and whether love can really conquer all.

Babylon is the latest from writer-director Damien Chazelle, the sometimes divisive creator.

Here he doubles down on some of the same nostalgia about film that got Ryan Gosling and Emma

Stone dancing in Lala Land.

I'm Stephen Thompson.

And I'm Linda Holmes.

And today we're talking about Babylon on pop culture happy hour from NPR.

Here with me and Stephen is our co-host Aisha Harris.

Hey Aisha.

Hello, Linda and Stephen.

And also joining us is the host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast and a reporter for NPR's

culture desk Andrew Limbong.

Hi Andrew, welcome back.

Yo, what's up, what's up, thanks for having me.

I think this one is going to be a corker of an episode I think.

So just to lay the foundation Babylon is written and directed by Damien Chazelle who got a lot

of awards attention for both Whip Blash and Lala Land.

He won the Oscar for Best Director for the latter of those.

Set in Hollywood in the 1920s Babylon follows a young upstart named Manny played by Diego

Calva who is desperate to get into the movie business anyway he can.

...