The first standout film of this year’s Venice Film Festival, and of this year’s awards race, is Michael Mann’s “Ferrari. “
The film marks the four-time Oscar nominee’s return to the cinema, more than eight years after Chris Hemsworth’s action hacker “Blackhat. “
Even with rave reviews and numerous award nominations, Mann’s photographs have been more celebrated by the critical network than received by the general public.
Speaking of the critical community, at least those lucky enough to take a first look at this new offering, what’s the word?
Ben Croll of The Wrap wrote in his review: “Premiering at the Venice Film Festival and foreshadowing a welcome return to the big screen after 8 long years of absence, the Mann biopic also marks a formal shift towards a more classical compositional taste. The film ditches the virtual experimentation that colored Mann’s last four films for something closer to the tone and rhythm of prestige television, at least until the engines roared.
The driver won much critical acclaim for his portrayal of Enzo Ferrari.
Ryan Lattanzio of Indiewire writes: “The driver’s functionality is excellent, surrounded by emotional safeguards, even in times of stress. . . But Cruz walks away from his co-star in a corner, stunned by grief but still alert and energetic.
Vulture’s Bilge EbiriIn writes, “In the hands of a less self-confident actor, it may have been a mess, theatrical, clumsy, and unreal. But Driver makes Ferrari indelible, a force as grassy as steel, asphalt and death. “
Rafaela Sales Ross of IGN Movies writes, “Moving away from emotions and into family drama, Ferrari enjoys another great Adam Driver excursion and a handful of masterfully choreographed race scenes, but in the end he’s too stingy with risk. “
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “Ferrari is unlikely to be a canonical Mann, losing the bright, sharp taste of his most productive work. But admirers of the director’s intense and muscular cinema will not go unrewarded.
Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, “Ferrari looks like a ’70s movie. There’s this intensity of control, this human fascination on many levels, this cathartic honesty about what life is.
The photo, published through non-AMPTP studios NEON and STX International, received permission from SAG-AFTRA for promotion even amid strikes. Thus, Adam Driver provided Michael Mann in Venice, where he noted that a small distribution company capable of meeting the “dream requirements” that SAG asks, while “a large company like Netflix and Amazon may simply not do it. “
“I’m very pleased to be here to see this movie, the truncated timeline we had to take to shoot it and the efforts of all the amazing actors who star in it, as well as the crew,” Driver told reporters in attendance. “But in addition, I am very proud to be here to be a visual representation of a film that is not part of the AMPTP and to publicize the leadership directive of the SAG, which is an effective tactic that is the interim agreement. “
Mann’s sublime and propulsive melodramas have long focused on the obsessive similarities and motivations that men carry at the highest level of their respective professions. Whether they are interested in law enforcement (“Miami Vice,” “Manhunter”) or outlaws (“Thief,” “Public Enemies”), boxers (“Ali”) or bloodhounds (“The Insider”), his heavy-handed dramas have made him famous among the most beloved authors of the critical network of recent decades.