Post by Doomsday on Nov 24, 2023 0:42:33 GMT -5
Ferrari
Going through the Michael Mann filmography oh so many years ago helped me appreciate a lot from the movies of one of my favorite directors. It also laid bare many of his shortcomings as a storyteller. It's incredible that the guy hasn't made a feature film since I did that bulk watch back in 2015 or 2016 and has only produced or co-created a couple projects. Ferrari is his first feature since 2015's Blackhat and the few movies he made previous aren't exactly considered classics nowadays. I entered Ferrari with a lot of enthusiasm but a fair dose of skepticism for the same reason; Michael Mann doesn't exactly 'do' traditional biopics and the end result could go either way. In a lot of ways it works, some ways it doesn't but ultimately it was nice seeing 'Directed By Michael Mann' back on the big screen again. Call me biased but he's still a filmmaker whose projects command attention.
Adam Driver stars as Enzo Ferrari (cue House of Gucci comparisons) as he confronts challenges running his car manufacturing and racing companies while juggling his stale marriage to his wife (Penelope Cruz who's fantastic) and his mistress (Shailene Woodley who is wildly miscast) with whom he shares an illegitimate son. Ferrari delves into these relationships but doesn't spend too much time artificially heightening the drama with long winded dialogues or by trying to inject some arbitrary conflict. Most of the movie is Enzo squaring off with challenges, many of his own making, while trying to keep his company and passion afloat before putting all his chips in winning the Mille Miglia endurance race against his chief rival, Maserati. It's very much in the style of a Mann film, fast paced, having a bit of an edge and not being overly dramatic.
One thing I have to hand to Mann is that he seems to have put more effort into his female characterization. I said in other threads and other posts that one of Mann's blind spots is that the female characters in his movies are often very flat, paper thin and lacking any personality or background. They're often just there and mainly serve as romantic interests but since we don't care about these characters we don't care about the relationships with other characters and therefore the movie suffers. In this case a lot of the spotlight rests on Penelope Cruz's Laura, a hostile wife to Enzo but also a loyal and devoted partner in their business. She's brash but level headed, always seeming to be a couple steps ahead of Enzo. Contrast her though with Shailene Woodley who should not have been in this movie. In her first scene I assumed she was supposed to be playing an American but a few scenes later she started with a broken, unnatural Italian accent and it takes you right out of the movie. Can't win em all I guess. The other thing that took me out of it was how oddly paced the final act seemed to be. Not going into spoilers but there are a few very dramatic, very tense and very serious events that unfold (you'll know when you see) and are quickly set up to be potential disasters for the Ferrari company and for Enzo personally. Those are resolved extremely quickly and before you know it the movie ends. One of these 'events' is also extremely graphic and while I don't mind that in and of itself, it feels like its in the wrong movie. A lot of it feels like its slugged in and was maybe taken to the cleaners in the editing room and it would be interesting to see what was left on the cutting room floor.
Ultimately I wouldn't say that Ferrari is a 'return to form' for Michael Mann but it's definitely worth seeing, warts and all. It doesn't rank with his masterpieces but it's certainly better than the last 15 years worth of his movies. It's an involving if flawed movie which is par for the course for Mann movies but it tries to be something unique and does succeed in many ways. I think this might be a pretty divisive movie once it opens and a lot of that might depend on how much you're willing to let go but at the end of the day I found myself engrossed in what was going on much of the time.
They also had a Q&A with Denis Villeneuve interviewing Michael Mann. I got to meet both of them after the show which was pretty fun.
B+ so says Doomsday
Going through the Michael Mann filmography oh so many years ago helped me appreciate a lot from the movies of one of my favorite directors. It also laid bare many of his shortcomings as a storyteller. It's incredible that the guy hasn't made a feature film since I did that bulk watch back in 2015 or 2016 and has only produced or co-created a couple projects. Ferrari is his first feature since 2015's Blackhat and the few movies he made previous aren't exactly considered classics nowadays. I entered Ferrari with a lot of enthusiasm but a fair dose of skepticism for the same reason; Michael Mann doesn't exactly 'do' traditional biopics and the end result could go either way. In a lot of ways it works, some ways it doesn't but ultimately it was nice seeing 'Directed By Michael Mann' back on the big screen again. Call me biased but he's still a filmmaker whose projects command attention.
Adam Driver stars as Enzo Ferrari (cue House of Gucci comparisons) as he confronts challenges running his car manufacturing and racing companies while juggling his stale marriage to his wife (Penelope Cruz who's fantastic) and his mistress (Shailene Woodley who is wildly miscast) with whom he shares an illegitimate son. Ferrari delves into these relationships but doesn't spend too much time artificially heightening the drama with long winded dialogues or by trying to inject some arbitrary conflict. Most of the movie is Enzo squaring off with challenges, many of his own making, while trying to keep his company and passion afloat before putting all his chips in winning the Mille Miglia endurance race against his chief rival, Maserati. It's very much in the style of a Mann film, fast paced, having a bit of an edge and not being overly dramatic.
One thing I have to hand to Mann is that he seems to have put more effort into his female characterization. I said in other threads and other posts that one of Mann's blind spots is that the female characters in his movies are often very flat, paper thin and lacking any personality or background. They're often just there and mainly serve as romantic interests but since we don't care about these characters we don't care about the relationships with other characters and therefore the movie suffers. In this case a lot of the spotlight rests on Penelope Cruz's Laura, a hostile wife to Enzo but also a loyal and devoted partner in their business. She's brash but level headed, always seeming to be a couple steps ahead of Enzo. Contrast her though with Shailene Woodley who should not have been in this movie. In her first scene I assumed she was supposed to be playing an American but a few scenes later she started with a broken, unnatural Italian accent and it takes you right out of the movie. Can't win em all I guess. The other thing that took me out of it was how oddly paced the final act seemed to be. Not going into spoilers but there are a few very dramatic, very tense and very serious events that unfold (you'll know when you see) and are quickly set up to be potential disasters for the Ferrari company and for Enzo personally. Those are resolved extremely quickly and before you know it the movie ends. One of these 'events' is also extremely graphic and while I don't mind that in and of itself, it feels like its in the wrong movie. A lot of it feels like its slugged in and was maybe taken to the cleaners in the editing room and it would be interesting to see what was left on the cutting room floor.
Ultimately I wouldn't say that Ferrari is a 'return to form' for Michael Mann but it's definitely worth seeing, warts and all. It doesn't rank with his masterpieces but it's certainly better than the last 15 years worth of his movies. It's an involving if flawed movie which is par for the course for Mann movies but it tries to be something unique and does succeed in many ways. I think this might be a pretty divisive movie once it opens and a lot of that might depend on how much you're willing to let go but at the end of the day I found myself engrossed in what was going on much of the time.
They also had a Q&A with Denis Villeneuve interviewing Michael Mann. I got to meet both of them after the show which was pretty fun.
B+ so says Doomsday
