'Ferrari': Michael Mann does not recover his old art

From the beginning, Michael Mann dedicated himself to filming action films, that genre that even the dullest and the supposedly enlightened no longer dare to despise.

Masters such as Hawks and Walsh dedicated most of his work to him.

In

Thief

and

Hunter

(the first film appearance of the brilliant and disturbing cannibal Hannibal Lecter), Mann demonstrated narrative talent and a powerful visual style for telling stories in which many things happened.

And then he gave birth to three masterpieces of adventure cinema, of film noir, of intrigue cinema.

From the cinema itself.

They are

The Last of the Mohicans, Heat

and

The Dilemma.

Collateral

and

Public Enemies

didn't reach that level, but they were very attractive.

Mann's films naturally fell into the category of classics.

The art that he demonstrated in those films is enduring, although he has been doing disappointing things for many years, in which it is difficult to recognize his powerful signature.

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Formula 1, bankruptcy, grief and marital crisis: the cinema narrates the fastest year of Enzo Ferrari

In

Ferrari,

Mann travels to Italy at the end of the fifties to delve into the tormented existence of a man who touched the sky as a racing driver, automobile entrepreneur, director of a legendary team, competitor of the all-powerful Agnelli family and not I know how many more things.

And that man probably belongs to the legends with a cause, but Mann's portrait of him and his universe is harsh, with little power of fascination, trying to show the internal volcano of someone apparently decisive, perfectionist, manager of a large business with bankruptcy problems, as sparse in gestures as in words (here the suitably aged actor Adam Driver, who plays Ferrari, does not show a single smile in the entire footage), knowing that success is essential for his survival and consequently obsessed with it , trying for a long time to reconcile his relationship with his wife, his lover and the son he had with her, carrying inconsolable grief for the death of the son he had in his marriage.

Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, in 'Ferrari'.

But something does not work either in describing the intimate life of such an unfriendly man or in the portrait of his always tense professional career.

As I am completely ignorant about cars, I also do not enjoy the exciting races in which companies and drivers risk so many things, including life in the case of those who compete.

I am distanced throughout the film from the suffering intimate world of this complex man, but the problems and exploits that occur in his silent professional life also fail to fascinate me.

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You perceive the wisdom of Michael Mann using the camera, but what he tells leaves me cold.

Adam Driver, an actor who must currently appear in all the important film projects currently being filmed in the United States, is suitably made up to look twenty years older than he is.

His character must have a broken heart and survive with permanent anguish, but I always observe him from a distance.

His wife, played with personality by Penélope Cruz, also has a terrible time, but she is closer to me than the dour and introverted Ferrari.

You always have to follow in the footsteps of a director as intelligent as Michael Mann.

But I hope he regains his old magic soon.

The wait is getting long.

Ferrari

Director:

Michael Mann.

Starring:

Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Jack O'Connell, Patrick Dempsey.

Genre:

drama.

United States, 2023.

Duration:

130 minutes.

Premiere: February 9.

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