Ferrari, Michael Mann tells the legend, but the result is questionable

The action takes place in 1957. Ferrari this is a new and long-awaited film Michael Mann director who has been absent from the big screen since 2015, when he came to cinemas Black hat. Presented as world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. Ferrari this is a portrait Enzo Ferrari interpreted Adam Driver, and seeks to bring back to life on screen a truly immortal and international legend who exported Italian genius throughout the world and who, even today, is synonymous with power, luxury and excellence. The film begins at a very delicate moment: for a former pilot: his company, opened just under ten years ago with his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) capitulated under the brutal blows of the crisis, which seems to have led to a terrible bankruptcy. Having lost his son and being forced to see the woman he is in love with only in his free time, Enzo Ferrari, however, has no intention of giving up or letting defeat affect his life. So he decides to make another crazy attempt, which pushes him to the greatest test, which later went down in history as A thousand miles.

A legend that doesn’t work

This isn’t the first time automotive ambition and art have been brought to the big screen: the most recent example is the film Lamborghini, available on Prime Video and produced by Andrea Iervolino AND Monica Bacardi, which are also among the manufacturers Ferrari. But in the history of the seventh art there were many films in which cars were placed at the center of the narrative: from Overtaking before Drive, passing through Le Mans ’66, there are many films that have tried to recapture the magic that happens when several talented pilots and engineers, full of ambition and creativity, come together to make a difference: for example, Pixar also tried Cars. So it’s no surprise that there was so much anticipation for a film about Enzo Ferrari, directed by such a film expert as Michael Mann. It must be said, however, that expectations were not fully met. The film’s first major hurdle is undoubtedly the decision to mix English, Italian and English with a strong Italian accent: a problem that was also revealed in the film. House of Gucci.

When English-speaking directors have to tell stories set in Italy, there is often a tendency to insert words here and there in Italian that English-speaking actors would otherwise place in the middle of their dialogue, despite the fact that they had been speaking Italian up to that point. English Or do you prefer actors to act with a noticeable Italian accent, as Lady Gaga was forced to do, always in House of Gucciand, as happens in many parts Ferrari. This choice doesn’t help the film at all: it doesn’t give it any sense of believability or help the viewer get into the story. After all, in this way he is thrown out of it, constantly forced to one suspension of distrust which causes him to exit the story and then try to enter again. It would have been much more linear and consistent to have chosen to have everyone act in English, without fancy attempts to convey the (often stereotypical) idea of ​​”Italianness”. Moreover Ferrari, The film, which tells the story of an ambitious man, a former pilot who managed to truly change history, faced with tragedy and death, is missing the main element: it has no soul. The actors are very good though, regardless of the choice of language – and Adam Driver is great too. Penelope Cruz which always manages to steal the scene – and although Michael Mann knows how to direct, the feature flows like a juxtaposition of events and names, sterile and forgettable. The viewer is presented with a list of character names that have not been explored deeply enough to give them the three-dimensionality needed to make the audience feel involved in what they are seeing as well. However, he remains aloof most of the time and sometimes gets bored. Ferrari it’s not a bad film at all, and it’s enjoyable, if, however, you approach it without expectations, without remembering what’s behind the camera installation on stage capable of giving films to posterity The heat is a challenge.