During the summer of 1957, bankruptcy looms over the company that Enzo Ferrari and his wife built 10 years earlier. He decides to roll the dice and wager it all on the iconic Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gadon, Gabriel Leone, Jack O'Connell, Patrick Dempsey
Release Date: December 25, 2023
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Rated R for some violent content/graphic images, sexual content and language.
Runtime: 2h 11m
Michael Mann's Ferrari is a slick, easily digestible bio pic led by strong central performances from Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz with the latter nearly stealing the show. Mann gives the film the kind of polish that you'd expect from any of his films with the racing sequences pulsing off the screen. The quieter moments he leaves to his stellar cast lead by Adam Driver. Driver's quiet intensity and determination shines through even though he's a tad too young for the roles even as he sports a fully silver head of hair for the majority of the film. He manages to give the character plenty of depth with his nuanced performance. The film really sizzles when Penélope Cruz joins him onscreen as she delivers an excellent turn as Ferrari's emotionally broken wife. Cruz's brings an acidic passion and anger to the screen with incredible ease which speaks to her immense talent. While the story is engaging enough it never quite finds the same sort of energy when Cruz is off screen leaving Shailene Woodley's character feel rather bland and uninteresting in comparison. This leaves those moments a more ponderous which kills the film's energy and overall pacing which makes the film far more choppy than it should be. The film does recover in its final act with a pulse pounding and ultimately tragic race that's initially thrilling before delivering a brutal gut punch. Those closing moments do give the story a more grounded and somber feel to the story of Ferrari and his life's passion.
B+
