A few days ago, I promised I would start bringing regular "Higher Culture" columns to you all, and here you go. Another article about movies and the world they affect. When the next one swings around, as one reader requested, I will talk about some music--most likely.
Now, back in late 2023, I wrote several lengthy pieces as a preview of the fall and winter movies. And as I predicted in those preview columns, some of the movies listed there have gone on to accolades by critics, box office success, and nods from the voters of the major movie awards this season.
READ MORE: Not Your Father's Golden Globes
Fall and Winter 2023 Movie Preview for the Frugal Film Buff, Part 1
Fall and Winter Movie Guide, Part II
But one movie is most likely about to suffer a major snub on Tuesday morning, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announces its nominees for the 2024 Oscars (AKA the Academy Awards). Predictions about contests are dangerous things, of course. I hope I'm proven wrong, but the precedents don't usually lie in these matters.
The movie I'm talking about today is called "Ferrari" -- and every adult who loves movies should go see it in a theater immediately. Already, I can hear the begging off, "But it's just a boring movie about racing. European racing. And it's another celebrity biography!"
Yeah, we have seen the likes of the "Fast & Furious" franchise. Plus, "Elvis" AND "Priscilla" in back-to-back years, and in recent years, movies about single-name divas, Whitney and Aretha. Goodness, as I hinted in my preview, even in the last 12 months, we had Adam Driver playing two different, famous Italians. Stick with me here.
READ MORE: HIGHER CULTURE: In New Biopic "Respect," Aretha's Faith in God Shines Through Glamour
Once upon a time, the great Martin Scorsese told a story to film historian and author, Peter Biskind about how he came to make "Raging Bull," despite his initial reluctance to direct a "boxing" movie. He explained that the project had been pointed out by his long-time friend and collaborator, actor Robert De Niro. Scorsese rejected it outright, at least at first. He had no talent or interest in the brutal sport--or any sport. As Marty said, in a tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating way, "Anything with a ball... no good."
But anyone who's experienced the movie--perhaps the filmmaker's best work--knows it's not simply a "boxing" movie, any more than "Field of Dreams" is a "baseball" movie; "Raging Bull" explores family relationships and mental breakdowns, and what people do in moments of strength and weakness to those closest to them. It asks whether we would act the way Jake LaMotta would act, in similar circumstances. It lets us, as human beings, reflect on our treatment of the people we trust, and who depend on us for their survival in a sometimes cold and confusing universe.
Director Michael Mann has done a similar thing with "Ferrari" -- a car-racing movie that isn't about cars or racing them. It's about a difficult marriage (Enzo and Laura Ferrari/Adam Driver and Penélope Cruz) and sewn together by a family business that happens to make elegant sports cars, inextricably linked to their love/hate relationship. It's about suffering the loss of a child, and how that patina washes over every aspect of a parent's life, regardless of how many months or years have passed. It's raw, visceral, and poignant how Spanish actress Cruz is able to open up the heart of the character Laura. Maybe it's unsurprising in one way; both Cruz and Driver said in promotional interviews that they studied actual letters the couple wrote each other, and spoke to friends of the family to get acquainted with the real, flawed people they portray here.
#PenélopeCruz, the noted empath, devoted mother, and mesmerizing star of #Ferrari, is hard not to fall in love with. ELLE's February cover star opens up about playing complicated real-life figures and her maternal instinct. https://t.co/ySrYmFaUPP pic.twitter.com/jFHMPd7sY5
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) January 18, 2024
The only major award that the film has been nominated for was thanks to Cruz's powerful reading of the role, too; she was nominated for Supporting Actress for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards, which released its list of nods on Wednesday. Those awards will be handed out Feb. 24.
But the movie is not only about that relationship and its perils (the opening scene, shown briefly in the trailer, includes one of them pointing a loaded gun at the other). It's also about the drama that unfolds and the suspense over Enzo having another, secret family with a mistress (Lina Lardi, played with simplicity and strength by Shailene Woodley) -- who bore him another son. Will Laura find out, and what might happen if she does?
Lastly, the film recreates the start of the Ferrari Formula One team, and gives an inside look at what drives (pun intended) men to put their lives on the line in pushing the limits of a dangerous pursuit. (Enzo himself was a driver before he founded the car company.) In that way, it reminded me of "The Right Stuff," with its insights into what made early test pilots tick. At the center of the storyline here is Ferrari choosing to enter his racing team into a famed race across Italy called the Mille Miglia (literally, "thousand miles"), on the heels of losing one racer in a freak accident during a closed-track test. Worthy of praise here is Patrick Dempsey, who not only does a great job of playing one of the veteran drivers (Pierro Taruffi) but also has a second career as a race driver in real life. (You can see him below, along with one of the film's accolades--a BAFTA nod for its exquisite sound.)
🆕 “Ferrari” is nominated in the “Best Sound” category at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards. The winners will be announced on February 18th.
— The Dempsey Hub (@thedempseyhub) January 18, 2024
———@PatrickDempsey @FerrariMovie @MichaelMann @BAFTA
🔗: https://t.co/4pmupg74Xb pic.twitter.com/GgmCkKhDVg
Adam Driver, with a stellar Italian accent, some convincing prosthetic enhancements, and period clothing (the movie is set during a three-month time frame in the late 1950s), completely inhabits the man Enzo Ferrari, who would rather keep making fancy toys for kings and other high roller types. But by the time of the story, the only way to stay in business for a company like his was to find a partner in one of the U.S. mass-production manufacturers, like Ford or General Motors. That tension within him spills out in his fights with his money manager wife and the rest of his inner circle.
Mann, who brought us complex dramatic films like "Heat," "The Last of the Mohicans," and "Collateral" (as well as executive-producing the "Miami Vice" television show), doesn't flinch when capturing the cornucopia of emotions these characters must both suffer and savor, with a well-written script and smart choices on when scenes start and end. The movie just clips by, and never drags during its 2-hour-and-10-minute runtime.
Of course, there are also some amazing, thrilling car-racing scenes. It's for those (especially the sound design) that I encourage at least the first viewing of "Ferrari" in an actual movie theater. You'll miss the full experience if you don't. (It might not stick around theaters for much longer; it was released on Christmas Day.)
𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢 🏎️#FerrariMovie, directed by the visionary Michael Mann and starring Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, and Shailene Woodley.
— Campus West Welwyn Garden City (@campuswestwgc) January 15, 2024
Book tickets now 👉 https://t.co/Ppjo0wCZv0 pic.twitter.com/FeJL2fLqHH
The reason I specified "adult" earlier in my review is that this is a movie for a mature audience, just like the rated-R warning states. Complicated emotions (and yes, nudity and sex scenes) are depicted by the actors, and the level of blood shown during a particularly gruesome car crash scene is tough to watch. It's not for teens.
When "Ferrari" made its world premiere bow last summer at the Venice Film Festival, it received a six-minute standing ovation. After you watch it, I think you'll be inspired to do the same. Too bad the Oscars missed here. Here's the full trailer:
