“Your father… he…” “He was your friend.” “… Yes. Yes he was.”We had friends over who hadn’t seen this, and listen: I know this isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. I know this is rote and working within cliches. But I also know this is so flawlessly executed and seemingly effortless. It’s hard to find flaws in it.
It doesn’t hold up if you think about it too hard — a film seemingly about the pursuit of art repeatedly attacks Ferrari’s pursuit of art? — but as an Art V Corporation movie, this works wonders. And that’s what this comes down to: it’s a movie. It’s not an art film. This is pure Hollywood. But it’s peak Hollywood, too.
I know, I know. What if Michael Mann made this? We’d be less impressed, and wondering why he did it. That’s why he didn’t make it, and that’s fine. This is very good. This has something going on beyond cars.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you told me a movie about racing would make me feel something, I wouldn’t have believed you.