A future cult classic movie is airing on TV tonight

While it did not fare well at the box office, the controversial 2023 film should find a bigger audience on TV.

Set during the decadent days of early Hollywood, the story centres around Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a Mexican immigrant who dreams of making it in Tinseltown and, as such, works his way up through the behind-the-scenes part of the business.

During this time, he meets several figures - movie star Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), aspiring actress Nellie La Roy (Margot Robbie), jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) and cabaret-singer Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) - with the film chronicling Manny and these other characters' rise and fall.

Written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash), Babylon's efforts to capture the hedonism of the era in which it's set is what led to the strong BBFC rating, with the organisation handing out the 18 certificate for the epic's very strong levels of drugs, language, nudity, sex and violence.

This excessiveness, along with the movie's whopping 189-minute running time, was no doubt a factor in the divided reception to Babylon - with the film appearing to earn both scorn and admiration from critics in equal measure (it currently holds a 57% Rotten Tomatoes score).

The parts of the movie often singled out for praise, though, include the scenes detailing how older films were made, Chazelle's vivid and immersive direction, Justin Hurwitz's energetic and Oscar-nominated score, Robbie's fearless performance, and Tobey Maguire's memorable supporting turn as a menacing gangster to whom Manny and Nellie wind up in debt.

It's these elements that make us think the Hollywood epic will go on to be seen as a cult classic someday.

You can read some of the more positive reviews for Babylon below:

The Atlantic: "Chazelle is trying to make a point with all the excess... I’m not sure if I agree or if I was simply beaten into submission after more than three hours, but Babylon is the kind of grandiose folly that at least gives the viewer a big old mess to chew on."

AV Club: "Shimmering, mournful, and riotous, Babylon is one of the year's best movies, thanks in part to a star-making performance by Diego Calva."

Detroit News: "Chazelle does a dazzling job of telling his story, even if for large swaths it's unclear if he's celebrating movie magic or driving a stake through Hollywood's heart."

Independent (UK): "Calva wears a poet’s heart on his sleeve, and beautifully so, while Robbie’s feral performance feels extracted from some higher plane of existence."

Inside Hook: "Under Chazelle’s bruised showman sensibility, to love something means honestly seeing all the ways in which it is broken and still hearing violins when you look at it anyway."

Vox: "Babylon is a profoundly humanist film, mourning the tragedies that litter Hollywood histories. But it’s also a worshipful film, one that gladly buys into the dream, the spell, the mystery of it all."

Despite earning three Oscar nominations, Babylon only grossed $64.9 million at the box office on a reported $78-80 million budget. That said, it could find a bigger audience via streaming.

And on that note, you can check out the movie for yourself at home as it will be live on Film4 at 9.30pm tonight.

Check out an uncensored trailer for Babylon below: