Tear Jerker / Babylon (2022)

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• The director for Maids Off asks Nellie how she manages to keep crying every take. Nellie responds cheerily that she just thinks of home.
• Jack getting the phone call that George, despite all his best efforts to stop him, has died by suicide. He then sadly notes that George was the first person to tell him that he had talent and lashes out at Estelle when she, unaware of this news, continues with what she'd been saying before the phone interrupted her. Despite returning to his usual charming persona shortly afterwards, he's noticeably more jaded and disillusioned in all of his subsequent scenes.
• Manny goes on an angry tirade in Spanish after Nellie asks him for help to pay off the money she owes to the mob, blaming her for ruining his life and for breaking his heart, all while Nellie is reduced to a sobbing mess on the floor and begs Manny to not be mad at her.
• Being the End of an Era for many of its characters (who are trying to deal with the end of The Roaring '20s), the film frequently pivots into this, especially with the third act being a lot more serious compared to the first act.
  • Jack looks around at the set of a low-budget movie he's doing and seems to come to the realization of just how far he's fallen since the golden days of his stardom. When he runs into Fay later on, in one of his last conversations with anyone before his death, he wonders what happened to Hollywood and the magic it used to capture.
  • Jack taking his own life after calmly walking up the stairs to his hotel room and realizing his career is over.
  • As Manny tries to flee Los Angeles, he shares a slow dance with Nellie and also tells her about possibly marrying and starting a new life in Mexico. A photographer captures a photo of Manny and Nellie slow dancing, with this exact photo being the last ever picture of Manny and Nellie together.
  • Manny never sees Nellie again after she reneges on her decision to run away with him and disappears into the night when he is fleeing Los Angeles. A newspaper montage reveals her career collapsed and she was living in squalor when she died of a drug overdose at 34.
• The fickle nature of Hollywood and entertainment in general. You can be the hottest thing in one moments and then be spat out and forgotten in a few years and the whiplash from that can be devastating and it can be very hard to cope. Manny watching a picture at the end of the film brings him to tears reminding him of the golden days for him and his friends and how it slipped away in just a few years.

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