Mark Kermode reviews Ferrari - Kermode and Mayo's Take

tell us about something that's brand new and on posters Ferrari uh which opens on the 26th which is the new film by Michael man who made Manhunter heat which of course you and I did as the radio one movie the month all those years ago back in the day collateral last of micans this is written by Troy Kendy Martin from a book by Brock Gates called Enzo Ferrari the man the cars the races The Machine this was a long-standing passion project for Michael man the story that he told me was that he F he first saw a Ferrari when he was a student in London in the 60s and he just thought everything about it the design the you know he sort of fell in love with it started pre-production on this film on a version of this film in 1993 what yeah I know and then it kind of kept not happening kept not happening kept not happening Christian Bale was in Mark the star at one point then Hugh Jackman I think was in conversations and 2015 Robert dairo was involved in another Ferrari thing or maybe anyway he said he was going to play Ferrari so now it's here Enzo Ferrari played by Adam Driver and the action centers around 1957 when to quote man everything he's been collides with everything he might become okay here is a clip and then we'll talk about the film on the straight into the tight corner at novamont there's only one line through it bar pulls up next to you challenging you're even but two objects cannot occupy the same point in space at the same moment in Time bar doesn't LIF the corner races at you you have perhaps a crisis of identity am I a sportsman or a competitor how will the French think of me if I run bar into a tree you lift he passes he won you lose Adam Driver do and you can hear through that the the sort of hint of an of an accent yes it's so it's English with a with a very slightly sprl of it with the sprinkling of House of Gucci yeah I I it was a little bit House of Gucci although it's not it's not Full House of Gucci but you know anyway so the company is in danger M his marriage is you know in bits he's failed to save one son there's another which is so far unrecognized and all the hopes get pinned on the mil media which is this road race involving great days now bear in mind what I know about cars and racing is absolutely nothing at all I I once had a conversation with um David Cronenberg and I said whatever happened to the red cars he said well do you know about cars I went no he went okay there's no point trying to explain to um and but it that race involves great danger anyone who had you know knows historically about this which I didn't but you can find it quite E you know not only to the drivers but also to Spectators and um him and so Michael man has talked about this as being a spectacularly operatic melodrama in in real life and the drama sort of raises a number of you know is is the the Devotion to the cars a way of distracting from personal failure the failure of his marriage the you know failure with his children um the way I mean it's as with all Michael man films it looks uh really spectacular um the cinematographer talked about you know looking at 16th century Renaissance Man in Caravaggio and that sort of thing there's a lot of it is is to to the the soundscape the sound of the cars the way in which you know that's why funny enough when I was going and all so there is a a lot to do with with the noise of it and then and then at the center of it you have Penelope Cruz is sort of the heart of the film as the sort of you know the wronged but in the end it's what it's about I think is somebody who has got this kind of obsessive pursuit of something that is essentially trying to stand in for some other gap in their life now I when I was watching it because I know nothing about racing I know nothing about the history of Ferrari I knew nothing about the story there is a sort of central TR there's a couple of there's a couple of crashes in it that are quite you know like really uh you know distressing I mean they happen in a way that's very realistically done one particularly and um and I find the idea of people driving cars very fast quite scary I mean we've seen quite a lot of quite good mainstream movies in which that whole thing about when you are when you are ing fast cars the difference between being alive and being dead is is a you know millisecond and funny enough in that clip when he's doing the thing about you couldn't see if you're just listenting he's doing thing about the two cars next to each other the two things cannot exist in the same space at the same time What do you do you take your foot off the yeah you take your foot of the pedal because two things cannot exist in the same space at the same time and I confess that I don't really understand the the desire to race cars I I find that idea quite frightening and so so what I thought was well done about the film is that for all the things that are sort of slight slightly hokey the accents and everything is it drew me into a world that I don't understand and that I will never really really never really understand and I I'm a you know fan of Michael man he's a filmmaker who throws himself 100% into into into his films I think the problem that it's going to have is that if you if you if you're not really interested in the Ferrari story you're not really interested in because it it may feel sort of quite off it may feel like a movie made by somebody who's absolutely in that world and absolutely loves the subject matter I felt drawn into it and I felt that I was kind of emotionally moved by it in a way that I hadn't expected um and I you know I I actually quite quite early on got over the you know any problem with you know you know why aren't they speaking Italian you know got beyond that because it has it has style and it has a sort of melancholy heart to it but it also has a couple of really I mean you know like I said at Le at least one of the crashes is really really powerfully disturbing to the point that I kind of you know does it have a moment is an unfair comparison in the ASF capard film about and Center you know the bit where just before the the final crash and it's raining and I we discussed this before but you know you're thinking just get out of the car you know you're watching a documentary so you know what happens yeah and you're but you're so involved in this that you're just saying don't don't don't get out of the cut the difference the difference is in the case of that I knew what was going to happen and in the case of this the particular thing I I I didn't are you that engaged into the story I was engaged enough that and actually in in all the cases that those things happen because yes I yes so in that case to answer your question which is thank you because that's actually put me on the right course with this to answer your question yes I was engaged enough to be upset when things went wrong and to be distressed by you know by by the thing of cars traveling at great speed you know coming a Cropper um and also just the fact that that you know man clearly you know he's gone back to the original locations he's immersed himself in this stuff you can tell that this is so you know it's like when um uh when Copler often talks about you know films being you know you make films about the obsessiveness of making films and in way actually there is a comparison here between the the central character and the filmmaker and that obsession with with getting the thing on screen and he's a very very fine filmmaker I don't think it's going to be a huge hit by any means because because I think that in the end it's the question about are we going to go and watch a movie about you know Enzo Ferrari and car racing or are we going to go and see a family drama so Ferrari uh is out when when you've seen it let us know 26 26 okay which is still boxing day I think up and Boxing Day all over the world thanks very much for watching this video I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it while you're here check out all the other videos cuz they're cool too aren't they they are and if you want to keep up to date with everything kerm Mayo's take then check out our social channels I mean why wouldn't you I mean I I would but I have done excellent

Channel: Kermode and Mayo's Take

Views: 96,550

Keywords: Mark Kermode, Simon Mayo, Kermode and Mayo's Take, Film Review, TV Review

Id: 23DScPs261s

Length: 8min 18sec (498 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 22 2023