Babel (2006)

"What you watching"?

"Babel".

"Ah, I didn't like it".

"Really, how come?"

"You know those dreams where you go to school and then realise you're not wearing any trousers".

"Yep"

"Reminded me of that"

My flatmate, the male model. He has issues. Nevertheless it didn't remind me of that. It did remind me of Traffic (2000) though, just not as good. As far as depressing films over 140 minutes I'd put this one pretty near the bottom. Not that it was bad, it was actually pretty good, it's just that the competition is stiff. Magnolia (1999), The Big Blue (1988) and the recent masterpiece Into Great Silence (2005) all subscribe to this amazing fusion of sound and vision to give some kind of uplifting notion that “everything is going to be alright” in the end.