BaBY Boomers

Ansel Elgort’s Baby clashes with Jamie Foxx’s psychotic Bats (top); enduring awkward elevator bantz with Jon Hamm and Eiza González (above); happier times are had with Lily James’ Debora (below). Fry, editors Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, and DoP Bill Pope help keep Baby Driver limber and lush. Rejecting CGI, Wright’s compositional clarity matches his story-building with elegance. And the orchestration of images to the soundtrack’s deep soul, funk, rock and hip-hop cuts is so fine-tuned, you almost forget the meticulous craft and just surrender to the exuberance of sound.

Almost, because if Baby Driver is a Wright film, it also doesn’t entirely dodge his shortcomings. Fun as it is to see him embrace his hyperexpressionist dark side, the plotting veers off-road towards the climax. And, despite James’ presence, Debora could have been developed beyond ‘endlessly patient lover who knows her new man’s music references’.

Still, it keeps luring you back in, whether to tease out its minute details (there are plenty) or find new routes into its playlist-style pleasures. Including an annotated guide to the street noises in the coffee-run scene, a hefty haul of disc featurettes helps with the latter. Two commentaries from Wright and Wright/Pope range from character insights to did-youspot? homages, while Wright also considers whether the ending is real or fantasy, and ruminates on sequel possibilities. Whether Baby Driver needs one is debatable, but the idea isn’t implausible, given its success. A sequel to an original in these studio-dominated, property-led times? That’s an unambiguous happy ending. Kevin Harley