Weekly Film: Baby Driver

Baby Driver Analysis


Baby Driver is an action, comedy film released in 2017 starring Ansel Elgort. It contains themes of crime, relationships and trying to leave an old life behind. It was directed by Edgar Wright, someone who has been known to do comedic films in the past such as Shaun of the Dead and Ant Man. The opening of the film relies heavily on its soundtrack which is impressively synchronised into what is happening in the narrative. This use of intertexuality is quite nostalgic to a certain period of time (the 80s).

Colour is subtley used throughout the film reflecting a characters personality. At parts of the film where the main character, Baby, was living for the thrill of the chase, the environment is very bright and sunny. The settings mise-en-scene includes tall buildings and fast cars, things commonly associated with a rich and satisfying lifestyle. However at points when he is feeling low and trapped he is seen in darker settings.

I would not considered Ansel Elgort an A-list actor as he is just starting out in Hollywood and is definitely not as well known as his supporting cast. However he does a great job balancing the levels of comedy (mainly through movement) and sadness needed to make Wright's idea work. He also does a good job of making the audience root for him throughout and want to see him have his happy ending. The supporting cast also does a great job with actors such as Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx all giving very convincing portrayals of the characters that they were playing. I also felt like Lily James and Jamie Foxx portrayed roles quite different to what they would usually be seen in. 

The film was distributed by Sony Pictures with a budget of $34 million dollars. That shows that there was faith in the project from the start of production. It managed to gross a worldwide total of $226 million. This could be partly due to the fact that it received very positive reviews from critics. It managed to receive a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.7 out of 10 on IMDB. It won many awards mostly for Best Action Film of 2017, Best Editing and Best Soundtrack. The soundtrack was released on CD, Vinyl and digital music via Colombia Music. It made it onto a few of the charts and managed to reach number one on the UK soundtrack Albums (Billboard) chart. 



Comments

  1. Ben Ellis Media/Film26 January 2018 at 06:10

    Really liked your comments on colour and lighting but would've been helpful to have included a picture of it. On the whole really interesting essay

    ReplyDelete

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