Ferrari, Michael Mann film review with Adam Driver

Ferrari Review is a film by Michael Mann in which Adam Driver plays Enzo Ferrari during one of the most difficult years of his professional and personal life. More obsessions and ghosts for the director, even if this time the ghost is his.

Michael Mann has a passion for hands. James Caan who opens safes in violent streetsto Chris Hemsworth’s fingers touching computer keys in Black hatwalking past the premises of Will Smith in boxing gloves. Alithe director is fascinated by these limbs, always in motion. The tactile element in your films is fundamental: moving hands not only express the thoughts of the characters and spur them to action. Sometimes they even replace other feelings, as in the scene Manhunter in which Joan Allen “sees” a tiger while stroking it. Even in his last film with Adam Driver in the role Enzo FerrariMann concentrates on this detail while the founder of an automobile company redesigns his engine. An action and obsession director, Mann is one of the greatest cinematographers. Nevertheless, review ferrari it can only be hard: this film represents the first real mistake in a remarkable career.

In competition a Venice 80The Ferrari will hit theaters on Christmas Day. The director, who loves racing, has been dreaming about this project for over 20 years. In fact, he talked about it in 2000 with Sydney Pollack. Finally, something got off the ground in 2015: at that time, Oscar-winning Christian Bale, who left the project in 2016, was supposed to be in the lead role. Then they thought about Hugh Jackman. But nothing has been done here either. Now it seemed that the film was not destined to be shown in theaters. However, in 2022, there was a twist: Adam Driver literally took over the management of Ferrari. Penelope Cruz plays the role of his wife Laura.

Mann, inspired book biographical Enzo Ferrari: Man and Machine journalist Brock Yates, decides to name a specific year in the entrepreneur’s life: 1957. We find him mourning the death of his son Dino, in crisis with his wife and mistress, with whom he had another child, from whom, however, he did not name himself . Even from a professional point of view, things are not going very well: Ferrari has to invest, sell more cars. And for this he needs to win Le Mans. And director again Heat is a challenge AND Last of the Mohicans presents a story about ghosts and possession. Only this time the real ghost belongs to him.

Ferrari: movie trailer

Ferrari, Michael Mann and Adam Driver: “The Enzo Ferrari Story? Pure melodrama”

Ghost of Michael Mann

A director is one who cannot do his job without supervision. Too many departments, too many people depend on him. Perhaps this is the reason why Mann is fascinated by characters who love control, are methodical, act. His Enzo Ferrari is no exception: the film talks about mourning, about great pain, but in fact, Mann’s attention is always attracted by love for his work – almost at a pathological level. The protagonist himself says this: “I must have total control.”

Ferrari doesn’t race to sell cars: it sells cars to be able to race. At least, this is the romantic idea of ​​the author. For him, carrying a ball of bolts and metal at top speed means defying human limitations, living in the present, being free. The same applies to its drivers, then much more adventurous than today: just think, in the late 50s, cars did not even have seat belts. To dominate the street is to dominate death. And in order to conquer death, you need to accept fear and be determined. This is the only way to win.

Michael Mann: the skill and emotion of his cinema in five anthology scenes

However, between one turn and the other of the rails that we see in the film, something must have been stuck. Withcost $90 million, the film is shot in Italy, but the special effects are bordering on presentable. At some points, it seems as if you really see mannequins thrown into the air. But the situation is even worse: it seems that the film is not directed by Michael Mann. At least not entirely. There are camera movements and shot choices that make you wonder if the director was really in total control of the film. It’s the same with Pietro Scalia’s editing, sometimes completely incomprehensible.

In addition, there is the original sin: the choice of the main characters to speak English, but with an Italian accent. The area has already been explored House of Gucci Ridley Scott, whose main character Adam Driver is in common with Ferrari and with whom, unfortunately, Mann’s film is connected. The charisma and skill of the actors are not enough to bring to life a film that may have come out of time and very far from the heights to which the Chicago director accustomed us. As Tom Cruise says in Pledge:”Hey Max, a man gets on the subway here in LA and dies. Do you think that anyone will notice“? This time it happened between Modena and Brescia.