Baby Driver is thrilling and original
One drawback perhaps of making a film as thrillingly original as "Baby Driver" (2017, USA) is that it may spawn a spate of inferior imitators, working under the guise of an admiration or an homage. Or when writer-director Edgar Wright, due to the film's box-office and critical success, makes another film of the same mold, with the result being that "Baby Driver" becomes just a mere hindsight. But setting aside such qualms, what we have here is a work of pure cinematic delight, oozing with a masterful command of the medium.
The fact is "Baby Driver" is more style than substance. And it may even be remembered as such. But perhaps, this is the only film that we would get to see this year that utilizes such an incredible sound design. Every sound, noise, and beat that we hear and every action and movement that we see in the film translate into a kind of musical cue or track, or add up to one whole symphony. Such a style really stems from the nature of the story. The main character, Baby (Ansel Elgort, perfect for the role), has an incredible ear for music, despite having some kind of a hearing disorder, brought about by a tragic car accident when he was just a child that caused the death of his parents (with this, the hearing disorder is then more psychological than physical).
It so happens that Baby works as a getaway driver for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey, never been better), who's involved in robbing banks and other similar establishments. The young man is simply indispensable from the job because, as his boss notes, "he's a devil behind the wheels". Yet, no matter how vicious this kind of world that Baby navigates, he simply drowns them all out with his earphones and the music that he listens to from it, coming from an impressive collection of Ipods and analog and vinyl sources. In fact, for every heist that they're doing, Baby plays a specific track he deems suited for that particular moment, as if it were some kind of a music video. For this young man, all the world is a concert or an orchestral stage.
With this, it can be said that everything in the film happens according to Baby's perspective, making it a purely subjective world of sound and symphony. This is what makes "Baby Driver" such a unique "musical". As in Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", where each and every spoken word (even the most banal and trivial ones) is sang, the music in the film happens not because of some sudden burst of song-and-dance numbers, but because it is what Baby likes to hear. Though perhaps not always in a good way, as music, from Baby's perspective, functions as a way of romanticizing the kind of mob life that he lives. But isn't that how we are, too? In one way or another, we have our own personal track that makes our lives much more enjoyable and bearable to live. To each his/her own song, I guess.
"Baby Driver" has actually set a new benchmark for a kind of action-cum-musical film that's refreshing to watch, a one-of-a-kind cinematic pleasure. The story may have been told a million times already before, but the way it's told is what makes everything so unique and special. Though as I mentioned earlier, such an innovation may open the door for some cheap and tiresome imitations, with the goal being more to impress than to express. But until then, we can just simply take pleasure in the symphonic thrill-ride that's "Baby Driver".
(Everything is music for Ansel Elgort in "Baby Driver")
The fact is "Baby Driver" is more style than substance. And it may even be remembered as such. But perhaps, this is the only film that we would get to see this year that utilizes such an incredible sound design. Every sound, noise, and beat that we hear and every action and movement that we see in the film translate into a kind of musical cue or track, or add up to one whole symphony. Such a style really stems from the nature of the story. The main character, Baby (Ansel Elgort, perfect for the role), has an incredible ear for music, despite having some kind of a hearing disorder, brought about by a tragic car accident when he was just a child that caused the death of his parents (with this, the hearing disorder is then more psychological than physical).
It so happens that Baby works as a getaway driver for a crime boss (Kevin Spacey, never been better), who's involved in robbing banks and other similar establishments. The young man is simply indispensable from the job because, as his boss notes, "he's a devil behind the wheels". Yet, no matter how vicious this kind of world that Baby navigates, he simply drowns them all out with his earphones and the music that he listens to from it, coming from an impressive collection of Ipods and analog and vinyl sources. In fact, for every heist that they're doing, Baby plays a specific track he deems suited for that particular moment, as if it were some kind of a music video. For this young man, all the world is a concert or an orchestral stage.
With this, it can be said that everything in the film happens according to Baby's perspective, making it a purely subjective world of sound and symphony. This is what makes "Baby Driver" such a unique "musical". As in Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", where each and every spoken word (even the most banal and trivial ones) is sang, the music in the film happens not because of some sudden burst of song-and-dance numbers, but because it is what Baby likes to hear. Though perhaps not always in a good way, as music, from Baby's perspective, functions as a way of romanticizing the kind of mob life that he lives. But isn't that how we are, too? In one way or another, we have our own personal track that makes our lives much more enjoyable and bearable to live. To each his/her own song, I guess.
"Baby Driver" has actually set a new benchmark for a kind of action-cum-musical film that's refreshing to watch, a one-of-a-kind cinematic pleasure. The story may have been told a million times already before, but the way it's told is what makes everything so unique and special. Though as I mentioned earlier, such an innovation may open the door for some cheap and tiresome imitations, with the goal being more to impress than to express. But until then, we can just simply take pleasure in the symphonic thrill-ride that's "Baby Driver".
(Everything is music for Ansel Elgort in "Baby Driver")
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