FERRARI by Michael Mann

I'm not hung up on the "Adam Driver doesn't look like Enzo"...

I can't personally judge how historically accurate it was, but I thought it was overall a GREAT character study - a film you "feel" on many levels...

Kevin

 

I saw it today with my family (it was my Christmas gift). I think this review tracks the closest to how I felt - it was good but the characters felt a bit under developed. I can't believe they left the part out about Taruffi promising to retire if he won. It also felt like certain parts of Enzo's character didn't jive with reality, but I guess that's to be expected. My whole family enjoyed the movie, I warned my kids about the accident but they were ok with it. The cars all looked and sounded real and they didn't 'movie up' the race scenes much, they all looked believable. Having looked at photos of the aftermath of the wreck, I was pretty amazed at how close they got the car to it when they went to retrieve it. If anything it was a bit less banged up than the actual car was.

I know some don't like this part but it was pretty central to the movie - the wreck scene itself. You could see the cgi but it seemed to capture the violence of it - and that wasn't the shocking part really, it was the slow pan of the aftermath, it was graphic but also probably captured the actual aftermath better than just a quick shot of the wreck would have, and lent more weight to the ensuing uproar - so it didn't feel gratuitous or unnecessary to me. The thing I didn't like about it is that they kind of got it wrong, in written descriptions what made it so horrific was that the car flew well off the track and took out spectators (including kids) that were standing farther away, ostensibly at a safer distance, and missed the ones lining the circuit directly - the movie showed the opposite.

It was horrific and the cars just got too fast before they finally pulled the plug. I got a chance to drive the targa florio this summer and was shocked that race went on as long as it did, but it didn't have the long straights of the MM so the cars would generally not turn into missiles like lemans 55 or MM 57...

 

How many times was Enzo called the 'Assassin' before this crash?

 

Not for the nothing, but the darkness, how he treated people, and even the Fiat rejection all were in the movie...Driver is a good actor but he wouldn't have been my first pick. I think they could have done better but he doesn't take away from the movie imo, and not really what I'd change about it.

 

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who would have been your first pic?

 

Good question, Daniel Day Lewis would probably be my first pick. Not sure he'd have done it, though. There are a few others I can think of, Javier Bardem for more of an outside choice.

 

Mine would have been Paul Sorvino. Unfortunately it took so long to get the film made that he died before production began. He would have been perfect in the role…both his physical stature and his persona. Of course the drawback….other than being dead…is that he was not considered a “leading man.” I actually think this is an advantage in a biographical film, as you don’t want the actor’s personality overshadowing the subject’s.

 

Driver and co-driver….

 

I thought it was pretty good. Definitely more of a look into the conflicts and emotions of the two families, as it were, than anything else.

Already knowing a fair bit of the Enzo story meant his interactions with the drivers made sense for me.

As to the infamous crash scene, I also felt it was a bit more graphic than necessary. I warned Mrs. Rosso not to watch, which she appreciated after she heard all the gasps and “Oh my God” in the theater. The point has been made that it needed to be horrible in order to explain the uproar and outrage that followed, but it could have been toned down a bit, especially since not a lot of time was spent dealing with the aftermath.

 

This was exactly our feeling about it - they could roll this into a miniseries or trilogy and hit the 60s, 70s and 80s. I left still not exactly having a feel for Ferrari's motivations, and I suspect they downplayed some narcissism/grandiose behavior. Maybe not. I guess that's acknowledgment that 'people are complicated.'

Shaliene Woodley's accent really bothered me. It's a tough choice making a movie about Italians speaking in English whether to just speak normally or go for an Italian-speaking-English accent, but hers ended up garbled. Even Driver had a few lines where I cringed. My stepfather is a first gen Italian immigrant who came over as a child, and his mother spoke very little English to me (or anyone) - but I've heard a lot of Italians speaking English and that point slightly disappointed.

Even Dempsey sounded like an American playing a Brit playing an Italian.

 

Brendan Fraser? Joaquin Phoenix?

 

Didn't like it and left the theater 70 minutes in. Was more an exploration of Enzo's soap opera personal life than the underpinnings of the company he built. Sex scenes were totally unnecessary. Just not the sort of thing I find interesting.

 

I saw it yesterday...Very Disappointed...

 

Maybe an Italian would be better, after all, Enzo was from Italy.

 

I don't understand the choice to put in accents in these movies. Either have them all speak italian, or just use regular english. No one is thinking Adam Driver is Enzo Ferrari anyway... I'd have picked someone else for the role, too, someone older for sure. Movies gotta sell though etc..

I haven't watched it yet, hope to be positively surprised, but all in all I am at least happy they made the movie if only for more people to know about Ferrari's sports racing heritage, as these days people think way too much about F1.

 

I've just seen it in Italy, in Italian. My girlfriend (who is Italian) was very disappointed by the dubbing, which was horrible (whereas films are usually very well dubbed in Italy). Flat, emotionless dubbing. She was also disappointed by the lack of Italian actors. There are almost none. OK, Driver and Cruze are there for the box office, but there could have been more Italian supporting actors.

Not understanding half the dialogue, I concentrated on what was shown on screen. A little disappointed by the very classic direction and cinematography (I don't suppose anyone will win any awards with this film), I expected more from Mann.
Some of the crashes are comical, but I thought the De Portageo's one was very good. Everyone in the room gasped and I don't think I've ever seen anything so graphic in a racing film. It was really necessary to understand the horror of that moment.

My girlfriend appreciates the fact that she has learned so much about Enzo Ferrari and motor racing in the 1950s.

 

Felt like an Italian soap opera with some cool racing scenes thrown in. I though for sure I would be seeing this movie at least a couple times. I went with another Ferrari couple. 4 thumbs down from us.

 

That’s interesting.

I wonder if the “ashtray” conversation with Taruffi actually happened. It seems a little too clever….and out of character for both men.

 

Whoops, don't know what I did to the above post, but I'm glad I didn't have anything in my mouth when I read the above statement.
Dead actors TEND to not be used in leading roles= just a minor inconvenience.

 

I saw it today. I liked it. I was skeptical of Driver as Enzo but I allowed myself to suspend that disbelief. Cruz was amazing. Enzo's mother was welcome comedy relief.

Frankly I didn't notice any CGI that took me out of the film. OF COURSE I knew those scenes were CGI for obvious reasons, but they were totally acceptable for telling stories.

I was with my wife and mother. They were NOT prepared for the carnage of the final accident. I understood the history. They couldn't believe it. I suspect 99% of movie watchers will be stunned by it.

The cars and racing were also well enough done that I was able to enjoy the scenes without losing my suspension of disbelief.

One aspect did take me out of it.... The wheel to wheel action at Mille Miglia. Can anyone point me to a ruleset and starting procedure for that race? What classes went first, fastest or slowest? How far apart were cars started? I've participated in organized, closed course, 60 miles "open road race" stages, and VERY rarely are cars ever wheel to wheel because the fastest classes go first and cars are released every 30 seconds. Curious how the Mille Miglia race actually works.