At least that's the case for Adam Driver in the shoes of Enzo Ferrari for this the latest Michael Mann directed film. Ferrari chronicles the life of Enzo Ferrari the chief executive of the car manufacture post world war 2 as he tries to rebuild the company whilst keeping his private life together.
The film has two main storylines that it tries to balance. One is Enzos affair with Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley) whilst still being married to Laura Ferrari (Penelope Cruz) and the other is the declining financial state of the Ferrari company. The later of which he decides to deal with by gambling on winning one last race, the Mille Miglia a 1,000 mile race across Italy.
I found the start of the film to be a bit choppy as Mann decides to throw the audience into the world of Enzo Ferrari with very little context. This led to me initially not really knowing what was going on and this wasn't helped by the soft speaking Italian accents that made it hard to hear certain words. After about 20 minutes though I did find myself invested in the story and my ears adjusted to the accents. From there I found the film to be a pretty run of the mill biography that was just okay. I felt it struggled to hit me in the feels when it came to the private side of Enzos life and was much better at the telling the business side of the story.
That was until the final race.
In the final act the film culminates into a gripping final race with high stakes. I felt Mann really came into his element when the racing was the focus and there was one moment in particular that the audience audibly gasped at. Whilst I was far from shedding a tear, for the first time during the films just over two hour runtime I did genuinely feel the emotion that the film was trying to convey. It was by far the most memorable and well executed scene and to be honest it's worth watching the film for on its own.
Fairly run of the mill but with one scene that will stick with you.
The film has two main storylines that it tries to balance. One is Enzos affair with Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley) whilst still being married to Laura Ferrari (Penelope Cruz) and the other is the declining financial state of the Ferrari company. The later of which he decides to deal with by gambling on winning one last race, the Mille Miglia a 1,000 mile race across Italy.
I found the start of the film to be a bit choppy as Mann decides to throw the audience into the world of Enzo Ferrari with very little context. This led to me initially not really knowing what was going on and this wasn't helped by the soft speaking Italian accents that made it hard to hear certain words. After about 20 minutes though I did find myself invested in the story and my ears adjusted to the accents. From there I found the film to be a pretty run of the mill biography that was just okay. I felt it struggled to hit me in the feels when it came to the private side of Enzos life and was much better at the telling the business side of the story.
That was until the final race.
In the final act the film culminates into a gripping final race with high stakes. I felt Mann really came into his element when the racing was the focus and there was one moment in particular that the audience audibly gasped at. Whilst I was far from shedding a tear, for the first time during the films just over two hour runtime I did genuinely feel the emotion that the film was trying to convey. It was by far the most memorable and well executed scene and to be honest it's worth watching the film for on its own.
Fairly run of the mill but with one scene that will stick with you.