Movie Review: ‘Ferrari’
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.
Penelope Cruz is a stunning force of nature in her portrayal of Laura Ferrari in star and executive producer Adam Driver’s new film Ferrari. Shailene Woodley plays Enzo Ferrari’s mistress Lina, and gives a good performance with a terrible Italian accent. When she first came on screen we thought to ourselves, “oh he’s cheating with an American.” Well, we were wrong. You’d never know it until you heard Lina’s last name and found yourself scratching your head at what exactly was going on with her accent. Did the film not have a budget to get Shailene an accent coach? Or was there not a possibilty of casting oh we don’t know, an Italian woman. Her accent it truly so bad it takes you out of late 1950’s Italy.
Adam Driver gives a good performance but not what we would call his best. The makeup on the film is superb. Enter, Penelope Cruz. She is a powerhouse, and with no words had us welling up as we watched her story as Laura Ferrari unfold on screen. With powerful close ups and dialogue delivered with such conviction it was a revelation of a woman’s whose life story is shrouded in mystery. Not much is known of Laura Ferrari or his mistress Lina and we do commend both women for bringing them to life on screen. Michael Mann is a meticulous director with such cinematic accomplishment in this film as you come to expect from his work.
The film follows the financial troubles of Enzo Ferrari and who has a tumultous relationship and family life. The racing leaves you in awe and disbelief. With no seatbelt, a tiny helmet, and cars that resemble matchboxes in comparison to the racing monsters we see hit the tracks to today, its a wonder anyone from that era survived at all. The racing crashes are what cause the R rating for the film and with good measure. We had no idea that such tragedy was mired through Ferrari’s impressive racing and winning history. If you’re a fan of Bio-pics or F1 this movie was tailor made for you. It does delve into the humanity of the man who brought us Ferrari. Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz hold the weight of the film on their shoulders, while Shailene Woodley’s character just doesn’t quite shine through as we never felt she was truly believable with the lack of her consistency in scenes both with her acting and her accent.
Let us know what you think of the movie.
