LOCATIONS

Most of these images are of Yale University Buildings and environs, with a few more of some locations, e.g. the house, in Los Angeles that have an east coast like appearance.  The modern Art and Architecture Building is where “E” has her studio.  There is a famous bar in New Haven called Mory’s where the tables are covered in carvings. A climatic scene in the movie would occur in a very similar bar.

Carvings in one of Mory’s wooden tables.

OVERALL TONE:

(Pictures Below)

Limping Towards Babylon is a dramedy. All of the films below have that same delicate mix of comedy and drama, and also feature main characters who are essentially good but quite imperfect, who sometimes do the wrong thing, but are always human and understandable:

The ensemble nature of The Big Chill is an obvious and very valid comparative, but those characters are older and at a different stage in their lives than the ones in “…Babylon”.

Thus in this way 500 Days of Summer has a more similar dynamic to Limping Towards Babylon since it is a bitter-sweet romance between young, smart, creative people, and likewise, explores the illusions that one believes in about love, especially when one is younger.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a dramedy set in high school where the main character is not only seeking love / lust and finding his identity (thus a typical Coming of Age film); furthermore, the lead in “…Perks..” also has a wound that he’s repressing, just like Thomas.

And while their respective wounds may be different, the dynamic is similar: both want the girl but they really need to heal the wound.

And in an even more similar university milieu, is Starter for 10:   so, very clearly Limping Towards Babylon is not in the category of raunchy – and generic – college comedies. It’s about real people trying to negotiate the demands of love, lust and academics, thus minus the British-isms, Starter for 10 is comparatively in both the right college milieu and general tone. Additionally, the above picture captures the importance of friendships that develops during a time of massive personal change.

(Incidentally, the attractive, then relatively unknown, young actors in this movie – James McAvoy, Alice Eve, Rebecca Hall, Benedict Cumberbatch, etc. – are now all performers in high demand; it was also Tom Vaughn’s first feature film as a director, which he followed up with What Happens in Vegas.)