“Ferrari” (2023)
“We all know it’s our deadly passion”.
Directed by the cinematic genius Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider, Ali, Collateral) his twelfth and latest release is based upon the 1991 biography of Enzo Ferrari entitled “Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Cars, The Races, The Machine” by Brock Yates, and centres on the decade following the end of World War II and specifically the year of 1957, and a year that sees the co-owner of the Ferrari empire haunted by the ghosts of his past as he tries to plot a course for his personal and business future. Mourning the death of his son Dino whilst lavishing love on his 10 year old son Piero (Patrick Dempsey) born out of wedlock to his long term lover Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley), Ferrari is somewhat estranged from his wife and co-owner of the business Laura Ferrari (Penelope Cruz) and resists all talk of expanding his empire by taking on a financial partner, any partner, as the theme that seeps through the film like the inner workings of an engine or the constant squealing of tyres is evident: ultimate control.
Another key strand of the narrative repetitively reinforced throughout the 130 minute running time was the duality between the private and public persona of Enzo Ferrari. You have the grieving man seeing his dead son “whenever I close my eyes” as well as a man full of regret at the ending of his own racing career and the deaths of his friends. The perils of being a racing car driver are yet another central narrative of the film. As is the importance of family, with Ferrari front and centre again as he juggles the estrangement from a wife he admits he no longer loves and the yearning he has to be with Lina and son Piero. Then you have the public persona: A stiff backed, upright, proud and impeccably dressed front man for his motor racing empire verbally jousting with the paparazzi, high profile customers and business owners in the city of Modena where he lives and works, as well as an on-going sporting feud with the owner of his main racing competitor Maserati, a duel that will come to the fore spectacularly and publicly in that year’s “Mille Miglia”, a 1,000 mile road race round trip from Brescia to Rome and back again.
My opus blog article on the films of Michael Mann
"The Essential Film Reviews Collection" - Volume 1
"The Essential Film Reviews Collection" - All 7 Volumes
Ably supported by a suitably thunderous performance from Penelope Cruz and a subtly scene stealing one from Shailene Woodley, Adam Driver is wonderful once again as the titular Ferrari and in the directorial hands of Michael Mann, I expected little else. I have long championed the films of both men with my admiration of Michael Mann stretching back to the mid 1980’s and early 1990’s, and the films Manhunter and Last of the Mohicans, before in 1995 he produced his finest work ever with the still incredible Heat before barreling into a new Millennium with the ridiculously underrated The Insider, Ali two years later before in 2004 encouraging yet another near career best from Tom Cruise in Collateral. If you have a spare day or three in your film watching calendar, may I suggest reading my opus article on the films of Michael Mann above before diving into his back catalogue? Just avoid 2015’s Blackhat. It’s a dreadful clunker! But in a cinematic career stretching over four decades, he’s allowed at least one film to be avoided at all costs!
As is Adam Driver and I’d avoid 2022’s White Noise as I found it to be insufferable with a capital I and officially the worst film I watched that year and indeed any year in recent memory. The twice Oscar nominated San Diego born actor first came to my attention a decade ago in a comically strange cameo performance in the brilliant Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis before joining the Star Wars franchise behemoth, excelling in the Jim Jarmusch directed Paterson and Martin Scorsese’s Silence in 2016, breaking my heart in 2019’s Marriage Story and excelling once more as the head of an empire in the Ridley Scott directed House of Gucci in 2021.
“Ferrari” isn’t Michael Mann’s greatest cinematic achievement as nothing comes close to “Heat” (or “The Insider” or indeed “Collateral” for that matter) but this is a worthy addition to his lifetime canon of incredible films.
Highly recommended.
Thanks for reading. A passionate fan and writer of spoiler free film reviews, please see my 7 volumes of “Essential Film Reviews Collection” linked in the middle of this article (all free to read if you have an Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” package) and should you deem my presence here worthy of a follow or subscription, suffice to say I will reciprocate your kindness.
Peace.
This is Ferrari towards the end of his life. I would be more interested in a movie that showed how he invented and popularized his eponymous cars.