Babel—the latest collaboration between writer Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu (the same team that brought us the acclaimed 21 Grams)—shifts its focus between four interconnected stories. In Morroco, a couple (Brad Pitt, Ocean’s Twelve and Cate Blanchett, Heaven) are trying to cope with a recent tragedy only to be faced with another. Meanwhile, in a nearby village, a young boy (newcomer Boubker Ait El Caid) endangers his entire family all because he feel the need to show off.

Despite being born in one of the poorest parts of France in the 18th century, Jean-Baptiste (Ben Whishaw, Layer Cake) was gifted with a special ability—an extraordinary sense of smell. Not surprisingly, he dedicates himself to creating the perfect perfume, and believes that this magical fragrance comes from the essence of women. Driven by his obsession, Jean-Baptiste finds himself resorting to brutal means just to fulfill his dream.

Let’s get this straight: Beyonce Knowles’s (The Pink Panther) role in Dreamgirls is to play a member of an all-girl group? That’s probably the biggest stretch for a thespian since Eminem as a white rapper in 8 Mile! Oh, relax! You know we’re only kidding.

Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed) is a South African mercenary who makes a living exploiting the thriving illegal diamond trade in Sierra Leone during the late ’90s. Whether it’s selling weapons to the merciless rebels for the stones or cutting in the more than a little shady military into his deals, Archer does whatever it takes to get by.

Walter Fane (Edward Norton, American History X) is a shy, dedicated middle-class doctor who falls in love with Kitty (Naomi Watts, I Heart Huckabees), a pampered upper-class lady. Marrying him just to get away from her parents, Kitty moves to Shanghai with Walter, where the pair’s marriage devolves into an empty shell. Finding what she believes is love in the arms of another man (Liev Schreiber, The Manchurian Candidate), Kitty has an illicit affair behind Walter’s back.

Jim Davis (Christian Bale, Batman Begins) is a former Ranger who wants more than anything to work in law enforcement. Going from interview to interview with his fellow unemployed best friend Mike (Freddy Rodriguez, Poseidon), Jim kills time in between work by getting high and wreaking havoc in the streets of South Central, Los Angeles. Unfortunately, all those years in the military are starting to take a greater effect on Jim’s psyche and the nasty fun that the pair is having slowly spirals into something a lot more dangerous.