EephusPitch

Okay, so I watched Series One of Spaced last week. I watched Hot Fuzz last night. I pretty much have Shaun of the Dead memorized, word for word, camera angle to camera angle. I got myself fully into the Edgar Wright Zone. Tonight, I saw this film on the big screen, my first Edgar Wright big screen experience since seeing World's End for the second time. And it was fun. Lots of chases, lots of gunplay., lots and lots of Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Hamm chewing up the scenery (although, it must be said, not enough of Flea with his prosthetic nose). The soundtrack was brilliant, and warranted by the plot. So why do I feel let down?

The problem, I think, is that on some level I expected Edgar Wright to do something more with the form. All of the actors do very well performing their roles, but all of them are playing basic stock characters: the Innocent Kid who has been coerced into a life of crime, his crippled Foster-father trying to keep him on the straight-and-narrow, his naive, wholesome Love Interest, the sinister Mastermind, the psychopathic street wise Gangsta, the sociopathic Whiteboy thrill seeker with his sultry Moll, etc, etc. All well and good, but all something we've seen before.

With Baby Driver, Edgar Wright proves that he can make a heist/car chase/shoot 'em up movie as well or better than any other director. No one doubted that he could. I just wanted him to do something subversive with the form.

Gorgeously shot, using a 1.37 X 1 aspect ratio, which somehow makes every frame seem even more like a painting. Hou moves the action along at his own pace, which means that frequently the film comes to a complete stand-still; in fact, for long stretches, the is no action, as we are given windows into the personalities of the various characters, as they interact with their children, or stare into space. Truthfully, this film makes Wong Kar Wai's "Ashes of Time" seem as straightforward and simple-minded as any of the movies in the Lethal Weapon franchise. I still find myself, a couple hours later, trying to figure out which parts of the plot are determined by other developments, and which are coincidence. I feel like I may have to watch this film half a dozen more times to resolve these issues, and that will be no hardship

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon reprise their roles as (respectively) "Steve Coogan" and "Rob Brydon" for the third time, following "Tristram Shandy: a Cock and Bull Story", and "The Trip": they play slightly caricatured versions of themselves, seeking constantly to one-up each other with their mastery of verbal dexterity and mimicry. "Coogan", the more successful actor, tries to keep "Brydon" in his place, and "Brydon" shows no willingness to stay there. Underneath all the banter, the two are given to insecurities and intimations of mortality. The scenery, the food, and the women are gorgeous, and the duo partake of it all: the arrival of "Coogan"'s PA, and his "son", bring the film (and, one supposes, the series) to a surprisingly relaxed and companionable close. Altogether, it's been a splendid journey.