Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Set during the summer of 1957. Ex-racecar driver, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another.
Ferrari (2023) is elevated primarily by its performances — Adam Driver delivers a commanding, internalized turn as Enzo Ferrari, and Penélope Cruz is ferocious as Laura, giving the film its sharpest dramatic energy. The biographical drama framework is well-trodden territory, and Michael Mann's script doesn't break new ground in how it structures the personal-versus-professional crisis narrative. Cinematography is competent and occasionally striking during the racing sequences, but doesn't reach the visual poetry that would make it exceptional. The Mille Miglia climax is harrowing and visceral, though the film's emotional resolution feels somewhat muted given the weight of its themes. Novelty is limited — the tortured industrialist biopic is a familiar form, and while Mann brings his signature intensity, the film doesn't distinguish itself with a singular voice or conception.