From the opening scene of Baby Driver you'll be swept up in the fun - tapping your foot to every song and gripping your arm rest during every car chase. Each transition is an explosion of color, fast beats, and fast cars. Baby (played by Ansel Elgort) is a getaway driver who oozes cool. But there's a lot more than meets the eye with this heart-throb. The action-packed thrill ride is just a nice package for our protagonist's journey whose untouchable exterior will spark your curiosity right away.
Edgar Wright (the brains behind such films as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) never fails to deliver something quirky and interesting, but this film strays a bit from his other work. It's fresh and unique, yet also acts as a homage of sorts to classic movies. Wright has cited all of the action movies that inspired this story in several interviews from The Blues Brothers (1980) to Bullit (1968).
We are thrown into the action right away as Baby narrowly escapes the cops after a heist - expertly winding through the streets of Atlanta with a soundtrack to match. It's pretty much off to the races after that. Baby is the getaway driver for a series of heists organized by Doc (played by Kevin Spacey). Doc assembles a different team of criminals each time, except for Baby. He calls on Baby every time.
Baby doesn't talk much, but he is constantly listening to music - a quirk that turns out to be a mechanism to distract him from the ringing in his ears caused by an injury he sustained as a little boy. We get the pleasure of hearing each song playing on Baby's iPod. When Baby isn't driving he lives a pretty isolated existence with the exception of his foster dad, Joseph, who happens to be deaf. His foster dad isn't a fan of his line of work, but Baby keeps telling him it's only temporary - a necessary evil to pay off his debt to Doc.
We are introduced to new characters with each new heist, and they are anything but dull. From the psychotic married couple who can't keep their hands of each other (played by Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez) to the guy who could go off the rails at any moment and just shoot someone (played by Jamie Foxx). Despite his skill behind the wheel you get a feeling that Baby is in over his head - especially since each job seems to be getting more and more dangerous.
Enter Deborah. When he catches her singing and swaying to her own music down the street, he can't help but be drawn to this cute waitress who works at the local diner. Baby's hard exterior starts to melt away as he falls for Deborah and realizes there's more at stake. We see what he's really made of when the crisis hits and he can't quite escape the life of crime he's now trapped in.
If you're looking for an Oceans 11-esque heist film where you love all of the characters even though they are criminals, you won't find that here. True to form, Edgar Wright delivers on some epic deaths and absurd violence (though this is quite tame compared with his previous films). But where this movie gets it right is in its unique mix of thrilling action sustained by a classic love story and a soundtrack that propels the story forward.
Some of the action felt chaotic and exhausting to me at times and there were some gaps in the narrative that would have been helped by a stronger script, but overall I loved the fun and quirky style of Wright's fifth major film. With each piece of action landing to the beat of the amazing soundtrack this movie is oddly satisfying and definitely a good choice if you are making your way to the theater this summer.
I've been thinking a lot about what "home" is. Is it where you live? The place your friends or family reside? A specific geographic location? The place of your birth? I've struggled to feel like any one place is home to me. I've lived in four cities, two countries and 15 different apartments/homes in 26 years - each place shaping me in a different way.
Lion is a film about a man trying to find home and figure out who he is. I don't know what it's like to not know where you've come from, but I do know what it's like to be unsure of where you belong, and so this story really struck a chord.
In this movie, based on the life of Saroo Brierly, we get to journey with the protagonist from the place of his birth in India where he is first separated from his family, to Australia where he is welcomed into the home of his adoptive parents, to his painstaking search (courtesy of Google Earth) to find his hometown. The 25 year journey is haunting and this movie is executed with such an empathetic element that we feel like we are with Saroo every step of the way, longing for his return home as much as he is.
In many ways Saroo's journey is a quest for identity. His obsessive search forces him to question who he really is and grapple with the fact that people around him of Indian descent carry a piece of their cultural identity that he only has small inklings of.
It's apparent throughout the whole film that he is struggling to know if he has lost a part of himself by not knowing where he has come from. With excellent performances from young newcomer, Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel, and Nicole Kidman, this is an inspiring true story that will likely make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between.
Director Garth Davis and screenwriter Luke Davies do an excellent job showcasing the beautiful characteristics of the Indian culture, including the food. I can't pretend to make Indian food that resembles anything traditional (which is a shame because I love the real stuff!), but I do have a great curry recipe that was a great fit for our date night in when my husband and I sat down to watch this movie. Here's the recipe:
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry
- 1 shallot, diced fine
- 3 cloves of garlic, diced fine
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons curry
- 4, 10 oz bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons minute tapioca
- 1/3 cup greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons honey
- lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- sliced almonds
In case you aren't sure what a shallot is, it's basically a smaller, sweeter onion. It looks like this:
After dicing up all your veggies, combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl, stir and microwave for 2 minutes to soften.
Combine the chicken broth and tapioca in the slow cooker and mix together. Once you microwave your veggies, add that to the slow cooker as well. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, nestle in the slow cooker and turn it on low for 4-6 hours. It should look something like this when it's done:
Remove your chicken from the slow cooker and set it aside. To make the sauce, combine the greek yogurt, lemon juice and honey and mix until combined. It will be a light color. Mix it into the slow cooker with the juices.
To serve, top your chicken with the sauce and some sliced almonds. Serve with cous cous or rice and a veggie on the side.
The media plays a big role in shaping the narratives in our culture. Instead of doing a deep dive of a specific film, I thought it'd be fun to look at some of those narratives by pulling together a roundup of some of the most interesting news and content I've seen lately. Here are my favorite stories floating around the web this last week...
Sofia Coppola becomes second woman ever to win best director at Cannes
Sofia Coppola hasn't always had a warm reception at Cannes, but this year she killed it (as did her characters in The Beguiled as far as I can tell from the trailer). In its 70 year history, it's disappointing that this is only the second woman to ever win, but it's something to celebrate nonetheless!
One of my favorite TV critics discusses the "asshole" archetype and when it does and doesn't work
I really appreciate Todd VanDerWerff's thoughtful discussion of television shows and his witty writing style. You can sign up for his weekly newsletters here.
Wonder Woman is the best reviewed DC movie since The Dark Night!
I'll be honest, I had already categorized this movie in my head as another boring, predictable genre film, but the reception has been super positive despite some of the controversy of all-women showings and a ban in Lebanon. I may need to get my butt to the theater this weekend to watch Wonder Woman kick some.
The trailer that is literally making me bite my nails in anticipation
On my list of most anticipated movie this year, Murder on the Orient Express has literally skyrocketed to the top after this trailer.
Okja stuns at Cannes
A film with a socially conscious message, Tilda Swinton with braces, and a giant pig-like sidekick is something worth paying attention to.
If you came across something interesting fun in the last week, share it below!
