“Nothing matters by the music,” Lermontov assures her.
Cinema continued, “He hums the notes and Page relaxes,
the steps have returned to her mind and her body regains confidence. Without
the music, she’s just a bunch of limbs failing about; with the music, her body
and her movements become a work of art.”
Maybe a post-war tragedy about that undying desire to
create isn’t the most obvious connection to “Baby Driver” – the 2017 heist/getaway
film from British writer/director Edgar Wright – Cinema noted, “but neither is
Rouben Mamoulian’s 1931 musical comedy Love Me Tonight. Or the candy-colored
costuming and fluid choreography of Jacques Demy’s romantic French trilogy.
Yet, there they are; up on the screen, alongside Walter Hill’s The Driver,
Richard Rush’s Freebie and the Bean, and Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde. Much
in the same way the French New Wave blew a breath of fresh air into gangster
pictures, Wright makes a mixtape musical—a “rock opera” in his words—and brings
the ghosts of the past to life.”
However, “Baby Driver” is more than just a summary of
its reference points. It is an energetic race down the crime-ridden streets of
Atlanta and up freeways of young love. Unknown to his girlfriend (Lily James),
the protagonist Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a slave of a wheelman for crime boss Doc
(Kevin Spacey). Budd (Jon Hamm) and Darling (Eiza González), lovers who steal for
their drug habit, and Bats (Jamie Foxx), a stick-up man with, as Cinema
described, “a proletariat ax to grind, round out the remainder of the crew.”
Sultry, sleek, and stylish, “Baby Driver” is more than
just an exciting take on a familiar genre. It’s a great combination of music
and movies. Pre-recorded rock ‘n’ roll, pop, jazz, R&B, and rap are no
strangers to mainstream cinema, but few filmmakers have found ways to use it as
cleverly. The songs are not here to carry the story when it drags or insert
energy where there isn’t any. They are here because they are just as important
to Wright’s work as the images. They collide against each other, fuse into one another,
and drown out Baby’s tinnitus – a constant reminder of the car accident that
killed both of his parents.
However, Baby doesn’t just listen to the music, he
moves to it. He mouths the words, sings to himself and others, and, most
importantly, he creates it. The songs he selects for each job are carefully
crafted based on the energy and timing needed. In one robbery, a bit of improvising
from the criminals delays Baby long enough that he has to restart his getaway
song to get the timing right. Nothing matters but the music.
After hearing so much praise about this movie, I
checked this out a few months ago on Amazon Prime while exercising. You can see
this on Netflix and I highly recommend it. If you have loved Edgar Wright’s
previous works, you will love “Baby Driver.” The car chases, the music, the
action, everything is an adrenaline blast from beginning to end. I cannot do the
film justice with this review. You have to see the film to believe it. I give
it a high recommendation.
I was surprised to see that there is going to be a
sequel to the film. I thought it ended off fine, but if this is going to get a
sequel, great. I would love to see a sequel to this film and see what Wright
has in store for his fans.
Alright, we have now reached the end of “Kevin Spacey Month.” I hope everyone enjoyed it and saw the films I recommended. I know that Spacey is not respected after all the allegations against him, but his films were still great. Wait a minute. Next month is October. You know what that means…HALLOWEEN MONTH!!! Stay tuned to see what spooktacular franchise I will be reviewing next month.
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