'Ferrari' Review: Director Michael Mann Does Action Right With Vroom And Classical Style
If you love movies and I love holes, then you know you don't want to miss this special performance from director Michael Mann. Even at the age of 80, he can go out with a verve and classic style that shows the younger generation how to perform well.
Whose signature "Ferrari" is over, now only playing in theaters, who drives the powerful man driver as Enzo Ferrari, now in his 50s and his heart is broken. In the year Win the biggest race in 1957: the Mille Miglia, Italy's 1,000-mile race. "You're going to crash, ride and win in my car," Enzo said.
Victory is saved by a Ferrari built from scratch and his wife, Laura (Feistin Penelope Cruz). From these broad descriptions, Mann builds a character study with subtle power and emotion. It's the adrenaline-pumping intimacy that makes "Ferrari" a true event.
Okay, maybe I'll vow to never pay a driver to do an Italian accent like he did for Lady Gaga at Gucci House. But despite the threat of the Ferrari empire collapsing, the savvy driver is playing well this time around. Ferrari's internal engine is so powerful that it is no wonder that everyone around him knows him as Commendatore, including his wives and girlfriends.
A former master of detective novels ("Heat", "Manhunter", "Patient", "Thief", "Miami Vice") Mann turns to real life here, as he did with Ruhl in "Inside" from 1999. Very good work. Crowe as Big Tobacco businessman Jeffrey Wiegand and in the 2006 film Public Enemies alongside Johnny Depp as notorious bank robber John Dillinger.
The driver's Ferrari is playing close to his suit, but the chaos inside is still rampant. Of course, his wife Laura demands that he and girlfriend Lena Lardy (Shailene Woodley) name their son Piero (Giuseppe Festinze) a Ferrari and point a gun at him. Laura insists it's Enzo and their son Dino, who died of muscular dystrophy at the age of 24.
Domestic dramas sometimes reduce the film. The Commando only comes to life when the car turns blood red and is driven by champions like Peter Collins (Jack O'Connell) and Piero Taruffi (the great Patrick Dempsey). And the racing scenes are super fun. Mann excels at characterizing complex men who perform life-threatening tasks.
Enzo's life comes when a tire explodes on Alfonso de Portago's (Gabriel Leon) Ferrari in the Mille Miglia. In a heartbreaking scene, a car collides with a post and crashes into the crowd, killing nine onlookers along with Portago.
The Italian government subsequently banned racing on public roads and Ferrari was charged with manslaughter. Although he was later acquitted, the driver described how the horrific accident scarred him forever. But it wasn't until his death in 1988 at the age of 90 that he discovered his passion for motor racing.
Man feels the dynamics of human interaction caught in the clutches of pseudo-capitalism. Adapted from the book by Brock Yatt by Troy Kennedy Martin, Ferrari can stop when the main character stops. Only early feedback suggests that the Ferrari suffers from a lack of speed behind the wheel.
That's why the film needed a creative team, including cinematographer Eric Messerschmitt and composer Daniel Pemberton, to bring out the emotions hidden between the words. Ferrari calls racing "our dying passion, our ultimate joy." And Mann and Driver show it all on screen. Sit back and watch.
