Ferrari

When I heard that Adam Driver was starring in a biopic about Enzo Ferrari I decided to read the book upon which the movie is based, Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates, and I was fascinated by this enigmatic and larger than life auto maker.  Needless to say, Ferrari was one of my most anticipated movies this year and I finally had the chance to see it last night at the Broadway.  It is an incredibly powerful character study and I was absolutely blown away by Driver's performance.  During the summer of 1957, Enzo Ferrari (Driver) is at a crossroads in his life.  His business is on the brink of bankruptcy because he is more interested in racing his cars than in selling them.  He needs his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) to give him power of attorney over her shares in the company so he can deal with investors but his relationship with her has been damaged by the recent death of their son Dino and with her discovery that he has another son with his mistress Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley).  His relationship with Lina is also deteriorating because she pressuring him to legitimize their son Piero (Giuseppe Festinese).  Juxtaposed with these distractions in his professional and personal life is his fierce determination to win the Mille Miglia, a grueling road race across Italy, at any cost, including the lives of his drivers Alfonso de Portago (Gabriel Leone), Peter Collins (Jack O'Connell), and Piero Taruffi (Patrick Dempsey).  This will definitely not be for everyone because, even though there are some thrilling racing sequences (that are enhanced by brilliant sound design and cinematography that puts the audience in the driver's seat) and one of the most brutal car crashes I've ever seen, this is a slow and meditative exploration of how Ferrari responds to these professional and personal challenges as well as to the people in his life.  Driver, in one of his best performances, is understated but incredibly compelling because, despite an outwardly calm demeanor, you can see see Enzo's inner turmoil behind his eyes and in his microexpressions.  Cruz, in an equally powerful performance, is a perfect foil to Driver because she is as explosive as he is restrained in expressing Laura's grief and rage.  Their scenes together are amazing because they are so dramatic.  I also really enjoyed the editing of certain scenes because they show Enzo's compartmentalization of his life, particularly scenes while he is at mass and at the opera.  I really loved this because it is so character driven and the character portrayed is so complex (but I think that is the reason why the critical response has been so divisive).