Ferrari
Throughout his career, Michael Mann has always been fascinated with the flawed personalities of difficult men which makes him a great fit to unpack the imperfections of Enzo Ferrari, a man who was all about winning the race of life. The image that sticks from Mann’s “Ferrari” is of someone who is never satisfied: If it’s not the speed record he keeps (and keeps updating the specs on his cars to save another half second), then it’s the sense that he’s one split second away from disaster. It’s not just that Ferrari is in constant mental competition with himself, what gives Mann’s movie its charge is the feeling that something’s slightly off somewhere inside this human vehicle, and we’re hurtling toward tragedy.
Mann works from a script by Troy Kennedy Martin, making an unconventionally structured drama about a man who can barely keep his life on track as he juggles personal and professional mistakes. Without giving anything away outright, let me say this. Though it may not be obvious at first, this film is building to some kind of disaster. It tells the story of a man who is essentially one of his own high speed cars racing through life but praying he doesn’t crash.
Adam Driver gives an icy, outstanding performance as Ferrari one likely to be dismissed by folks soured on another iffy Italian accent. Get over it. Forget “House of Gucci.” This is Driver trying to find humanity in a total cipher and succeeding brilliantly because of how subtly he plays each beat. The script has more nuance than you’d expect from such a macho filmmaker as Martin (who suggests machine as often as man), offering Driver scenes that could alternately be described as “the machine” or “the man.” We see Ferrari as a heartless genius and also consulting with his dead son; we’re told directly that he’s like Jesus Christ (a carpenter who’d be working with metal today). It’s no wonder the guy feels such pressure.
As in many Mann films, the pressure here is what leads to emotional distance. Nearly everyone in Ferrari’s world is disposable drivers, lovers, employees and we watch Driver try to hold on to affection for two women in his life: His wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) and his mistress Lina (Shailene Woodley), with whom he has a child. The son he had with Laura recently died, so you can imagine how open his heart is. That blanket of grief hangs heavily over the film, particularly in Cruz’s scenes as a woman who’s had enough of her husband’s icy detachment. If Driver is the cold steel of “Ferrari,” Cruz is its roaring engine, this may be a small part relative to some she’s played before, but it’s one of the great performances by any actress of her generation.
“Ferrari” is set in 1957, when the title character is almost sixty and struggling to retain control over an industry he created. He’s a hero in his home country of Italy, but that doesn’t make it any easier. The movie opens with an attempt to break a speed record; Ferrari knows this could be the death blow for a company already teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Up until now the company has been too focused on sports cars and not enough on vehicles that can actually be sold to keep it in business. It’s a film about an old man reflecting on his own legacy after losing one heir and siring another whom he cannot publicly acknowledge, and realizing that being a latter-day messiah carries certain expectations.
Naturally, as with all Mann films, the craft here is simply impeccable. Cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt had a great year between this razor-sharp work and the subtle tension he brings to scenes throughout “The Killer,” which avoid flashiness while keeping the picture grounded and always moving. The editing by master Pietro Scalia (“JFK,” “Black Hawk Down”) does so much of the heavy lifting here as it seamlessly shifts from scenes of domestic conflict to anticipation for what feels like half of Italy’s population gathering to participate in or watch their beloved Mille Miglia race across the country. Daniel Pemberton delivered two brilliant scores this year this one and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” but just like everyone wanted to work with actual Ferrari, Michael Mann attracts top talent across the board, and they all lift up “Ferrari” in ways that make it one of the most well made movies of 2022.
There might be one or three too many scenes about money and eureka moments in “Ferrari” Laura first uncovers some secrets Enzo was hiding by essentially bullying a banker into revealing them but that’s a minor quibble with a drama that feels like it’s been undersold in the crowded end of year season. So many studios save their potential award winners for November and December that there’s often a pile up, but history has a way of separating the forgettable from the films that deserve to cross the finish line. This is one of the latter.
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