Set in Hollywood in the 1920s, this film shows the transition from silent films to talkies. We follow three characters, Nellie LeRoy, an aspiring actress, Manny Torres, an ambitious assistant, and Jack Conrad, a fading star, through this delicate transition. It is difficult to say whether this film is a comedy or a tragedy. Moments of hedonistic lust, especially a very intense opening scene of a party turned orgy, are followed by chaotic moments of violence, despair and cynicism. It’s a film that shows the darkness of the film industry, but it seemed to me that it went a little too far at some moments. Quite intense to watch at the end of a day, and I wonder if the cruelty of this race to fame has really changed?
“In a hundred years, when you and I are both long gone, any time someone threads a frame of yours through a sprocket, you will be alive again. You see what that means? One day, every person on every film shot this year will be dead. And one day, all those films will be pulled from the vaults, and all their ghosts will dine together, and adventure together, go to the jungle, to war together. A child born in 50 years will stumble across your image flickering on a screen and feel he knows you, like… like a friend, though you breathed your last before he breathed his first. You’ve been given a gift. Be grateful. Your time today is through, but you’ll spend eternity with angels and ghosts.”