‘Ferrari’ gives a high-octane account of automobile giant’s eccentricities

By Max Scholl     1/18/24 12:55am

Review: ★★★★★

Michael Mann, best known for his distinctly American action thrillers “Heat” and “Collateral,” released his first ever film set entirely outside of the U.S. late last December. “Ferrari” is a historical biopic on the turbulent life of automobile mogul Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver), founder of the eponymous car manufacturer. Mann brings out the best of his older films for “Ferrari” — the paranoid intensity of “The Insider” and the steely solitude of “Thief” — to craft one of his most riveting films to date. 

“Ferrari” follows Enzo Ferrari trying to balance a troubled personal life with a high-stakes professional life. The year is 1957, and Enzo is preparing his racing team for the legendary Mille Miglia, an open-road endurance race winding all throughout Italy. Meanwhile, Enzo and his estranged wife, Laura (Penelope Cruz), grapple with the loss of their only son, Dino. As the narrative progresses, fragments of Enzo’s past and the anxieties of post-war Europe begin to reveal themselves through a barrage of increasingly intense scenes — including the brutal politics of the racing industry and the double-life Enzo leads — all before culminating in an explosive, tempestuous climax. 

---

---

Mann’s adrenaline-filled cinematic language works perfectly in depicting Enzo’s chaotic life. Sequences where the rumble of V-12 engines overwhelm with sheer sound will leave audiences on the edges of their seats, as the camera rhythmically cuts between shots of clutch-pedaling, gear-shifting and asphalt barreling beneath. Mann finds a visual poetry in these moments, viewing these racers hurtling down winding roads as representations of Enzo’s fast-paced lifestyle. 

Driver and Cruz give some of their most ferocious, masterful performances yet in “Ferrari,” the film with an extra degree of intensity. Driver’s interpretation of Enzo is sunglasses-at-night stern and granitic; Cruz’s Laura is fiery, filled with rage and trauma. Their arguments and confrontations — the solipsistic absent-mindedness of Enzo colliding with the furious alienation of Cruz — are just as adrenaline-filled as many of the film’s racing scenes. Underneath Mann’s direction, their performances remain completely real, imbued with an acuteness and stability; though the film focuses chiefly on Enzo’s life, it never once undermines Laura or any of her adversities — Mann’s writing and Cruz’s performance does justice to her story. 

Something else “Ferrari” nails is the balance between Enzo’s personal and professional lives. In the recent trend of biopics attempting to capture larger-than-life characters, many directors end up falling into the trap of over-indulgence, leading to lopsided storylines or an excessive gratuitousness. The film is never over-stylized, nor is it ever overly-dramatic. Instead, it retains a deep seriousness while nonetheless being cool and level-headed. In doing so, “Ferrari” stands as a towering work of remarkable balance. 

“Ferrari” is ultimately concerned with a professional striving for machine-like levels of ruthless perfection, obliterating his personal life in search of control and meaning. The self-destructive toxic masculinity which ends up being the focus of the film is no surprise coming from Mann, but “Ferrari,” unlike any of his previous features, has a refreshingly modern attitude toward how this plays out in the domestic sphere. With World War II in hindsight, Enzo reacts to grief and his marital life by dismissively sweeping his demons under the rug, putting his focus entirely towards an obsession in hopes that these residual anxieties will disappear. Though “Ferrari” may seem perhaps too breakneck at certain moments, it only adds to paint an immersive picture of Enzo’s story. 

---