Review - Ferrari
Directed by: Michael Mann
Written by: Troy Kennedy Martin
Starring: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Gabriel Leone, Jack O’Connell, Patrick Dempsey
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rating: 4/5
Michael Mann has always oscillated between telling realistic stories of professionals, and real life stories of historical figures. Wether it’s towering figures like Muhammad Ali, or smaller but equally as conflicted figures of Lowell Bergman in ’The Insider’.
Mann is always within his element of deeply conflicted men trying to find their path forward in a world of chaos. And after nearly a decade away from he big screen, ‘Ferrari’ is a welcomed return.
Set primarily in the summer of 1957, the film follows Enzo Ferrari and his struggles to keep his and business afloat, all the while preparing for a race that could spell success or certain doom for his company. On top of contending with the grief of his son Dino’s recent passing, Enzo also must deal with a secret family and son that has remained hidden from his wife for many years.
Throughout Mann’s career when he delves within the subject of historical fiction or biopics, they are never about attempting to go from birth to death in the oft wikipedia structure. He’s always more interested in what his subjects will do in the most complicated, and emotionally taxing moments of a their lives. How do they know what is the right decision is, when everyone else around them is expecting failure?
Adam Driver turns in a very commanding and focused performance as the titular Enzo Ferrari. He knows that he has to be a businessman, a celebrity, a husband, and a huckster, sometimes all at once. In a weird way this is the flip side of his role in ‘House of Gucci’ where he was cast as more of a brash debutant, who is behind the ball most of the movie. In this he is always being torn between multiple needs of his families and his work, and must make quick and hard decisions to stay ahead of his competitors. The remainder of the cast of Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, and Patrick Dempsey are also good, but it’s Driver who is in first position throughout most of the movie.
Ferrari is a prefect subject matter for Mann and his very methodical storytelling style. We are always aware of the various emotional, financial, and societal threats that are after Ferrari at every turn.
When the film shifts into the Mille Miglia race, is when it truly soars. We feel the speed and the danger of this life defining race for its racers, and its backers. It’s a technical marvel to watch these cars barrel through twists and turns of lush Italian countryside. Mann has always made his action sequences thrilling but simultaneously very grounded. He is truly in his element during this section of the movie.
I think some audiences will find the more dramatic parts of this movie to be well trotted subject matter for Mann. The film is at times very over the top in its tonality and in some moments quite graphic and shocking. But it’s it’s always interested in how far will someone go to win or succeed. And while, many would make it about the need of money, or the greed that befalls men. Ferrari is steadfastly about the focus it takes to win at all costs, and the consequences of putting it all on the line.
It was a delight to see Mann back in his element for this film, and cannot wait to see what he has up his sleeve next.
