“Baby Driver” is a sharp and colorful film. The music selection, characters, locations, and editing, make for a fast-paced ride that paints a rainbow in a gritty underworld of crime. Edgar Wright‘s latest feast for the eyes is as detail-oriented as his previous films. However, the costuming of the characters is not usually associated with Wright’s directorial style; it’s there and important but not the first thought when identifying a movie by the director. But in “Baby Driver,” color coding and character costuming are what adds a further symbolic layer to the thoughtful film.
That’s the subject of a video essay by Film Radar, analyzing the details not so evident upon the first watch of the movie. In the video, we see how the costuming and colors used on and around characters convey a deeper meaning to who they are intrinsically. Of the many examples discussed, Baby is probably the most complicated and compelling.
The simplicity of his costume may not show this at first glance, but using black and white is a trait throughout the film with deeper meaning. Costume designer Courtney Hoffman dresses Baby in clothes that distinctly demonstrate his internal struggle, between his life of crime and his yearning for a better future. Constantly at odds, Hoffman even goes to the length of dressing Ansel Elgort‘s character in an undershirt that continues to gray as the film progresses. Baby is just one of the company of characters with an identifiable exterior, with the video essay breaking down Debora, Doc, and Bats and the colors that surround them.
With a film like “Baby Driver,” every minutia of the frame is created with a deeper meaning. As the video essay states, it would be easy to make a contemporary movie without a thought to character costuming; just make them look relevant. “Baby Driver” cements an understanding of each character by a detail often overlooked. The costume design of “Baby Driver” may not be as sumptuous as a period drama, but the coding and symbolism it conveys just adds to the growing appreciation of Wright’s work and his own reverence for each detail of film.
