Baby Driver - Perfectly Spread to the Edges

As always, expect unrelenting spoilers.

Going into a movie completely blind is rare. I'm talking no trailers or news of any kind. So when it happened, I jumped at the opportunity based solely on a trusted recommendation. It's one of the purest movie-going experiences there is, especially when the film is as great as Baby Driver. It is equal parts amazing and unique. From the characters to the use of music, it's able to maintain its engaging beat and deliver the story of what it's like to be behind the wheel as the getaway driver, Baby.

The Sound

This is the first I've seen tinnitus so deeply core to a film. Its importance never sways. Not only does it feed into the stylized use of music throughout, it's a conduit through which Baby communicates with others as he reads lips as his primary method of listening. It also helps establish the relationship with his foster dad, Joseph. The use of sign language was incredible; rather than being some focal point of disability, it's portrayed as a language with equal space for Baby and Joseph to show personality without any appearance of struggle. This is a step in the right direction to giving screen time to countless other ways of living and afflictions.

I loved music's role in the film. Think guitar rifts lining up with gun shots. Rather than purely backdrop, the music informs the narrative as if they found a way to do the opposite of breaking the fourth wall... so like, building the fourth wall? Look at the scene with Buddy and Debbie in the restaurant after Darling and Bats get killed. The moment Baby sees them, we hear that soft, longing song which turns out to be in the earbuds. The way the heart-touching music switches to faint earbud noise once pulled from Baby's ear is almost comedic. It plays as a reminder that we most hear what Baby hears.

B.a.b.y. - Baby

Baby is a protagonist you can't help but love. Even the other characters have a hard time disliking him; they either like him or are passive. Even Doc goes soft for him at the end, even after being betrayed, though I felt he didn't have ample reason to. The three in the final job's crew only changed camps once they realized Baby wasn't going to help them escape.

His past, while dark, sings to a different tune. Despite being subjected to his parents arguing and domestic violence as a child, he's a master of his trade and I admire his calmness in even the most tense situations. Having two parents that bicker comes with the territory, but such blatant poisonous hate between parents that comes to blows would be utterly horrific. But rather than fueling some deep-seated paternal hatred, he was able to make the semantic distinction in Dad and Father and have a great relationship with Joseph. As someone who had to make this same mental contrast long ago, I admired his strikingly clean transition away from his own transgression. What helped him a great deal was likely his choice to eternalize his mother's music, embracing hobby-inspiring positivity and blocking out the traumatic negativity that Young Baby, as so elegantly put by IMDb, went through.

One of the pivotal factors in character design that I look for is consistency, whether it be in games, film or shows. They nailed this with my favorite scene when he's stealing the purple car from, and here's another IMDb gem, carjack lady (Andrea Frye). He doesn't take off until he finds a station he can appropriately groove to and this is the epitome of character coherence. I was so damn excited at such a display of deliberate invariance that I wanted to cheer in the theater. Of course, people would then inquire to what the hell my problem was. After all, he was just picking a radio station, but I immediately saw that it was so much more.

Deborah

While Debbie is brought in as a minor character, I'm glad her importance only ever grew and really solidified the partnership between her and Baby. Their relationship felt very real and balanced to me because I too am of a quieter, more passive demeanor. Watching these two connect on their passion of music was gripping. I mean come on. Those post cards were adorable.

I was thrilled to see the lack of a damsel in distress trope near the end when Buddy is seeking revenge on Baby. Rather than allowing herself to be killed or captured, fueling some typical plot line, Debbie whacking Buddy with the crowbar was rad. She was even willing to run from the cops because being a team meant everything to them. Baby just knew it came time to face the music.

Aside

I didn't even realize Ansel Elgort was from Fault in Our Stars until a day later, when I brought this up film with a coworker. Thankfully, being unaware of such a distracting detail, Baby was the blank slate I needed to be fully immersed. As for Jon Hamm, I initially found him in Black Mirror, and spent the last months of last year watching all of Mad Men for the first time. You could say I have a bit of a crush. With House of Cards just releasing its latest season, Kevin Spacey was close in mind, but it's noteworthy that the last time I saw him without a southern drawl was as Lex Luthor, but my attention towards that evaporated custom was quick to pass.

Point is, I didn't know they were in the movie until they were on the screen, so off the bat, I saw past Baby's endless supply of sunglasses and was in awe, and it held true throughout.

I leave you with this.