Edgar Wright – BABY DRIVER
– A filmmaking jewel.
JUST A FEW WORDS (IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT):
Let’s start (with the foot down on the accelerator) by saying that throughout the first two scenes Baby Driver has stricken us so much that the director could even have ended it there and we would have been widely satisfied:
- The first sequence is so precise that it encompasses the whole film, draws its tone, sets the character and tells us exactly what awaits us for the remaining two scant hours of film: a punch on the nose.
- For the second scene, however, the longtake that constitutes it is absolutely fantastic: the way in which the camera movement is in sync with the music, the parts of the lyrics of the song that appear as scenographic elements at the right time, the idea that one can deduct of the preparation that such a camera movement must have used, the adherence between visual apparatus, character, scenography, soundtrack and narration is sensational and in all probability we are looking at one of the most successful longtakes of the decade.
In short, however, as far as the opinion we have of the rest of the film is concerned: Baby Driver is an excellently shot and edited film, with good dialogue writing, but with a narrative structure that providing an attraction – heist – right after another, lends its side to a touch of repetitiveness. It has an excellent soundtrack that makes it almost a post-modern musical in which different genres are mixed (the western ending between Buddy and Baby’s cars, the romance between Baby and Debora, the echoes of the b-movies, the action movie in its most successful forms) and which, in the long run, gets a bit tiring.
Ultimately, it is the direction and editing that make this film one to watch absolutely, possibly in a movie theater. Well done Edgar Wright, for another successful heist.
PROS:
- Film direction.
- Film editing.
- The soundtrack.
- Mixture of different genres.
- Acting.
CONS:
- The structure (heist after heist) makes it a bit repetitive, and so does the absolute omnipresence of music.
- Very energetic film, with an action component which someone must like in order to enjoy.
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GENERAL INFO:
7.6
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