Mann’s ‘Ferrari’ Test-Screened, “$90 Million Art Film”

For most of my adult life, I’ve abided by the church of Michael Mann. From 1981 to 2009, he could do no wrong in my books. I’m talking the streak that included “Thief,” “Manhunter,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Heat,” “The Insider,” “Ali,”“Collateral” and “Public Enemies.”

However, his last few films —“Miami Vice” and “Blackhat” —left me cold. There’s a fervent cult of fans that have reappraised these two films, despite initially mixed reviews, but I just can’t get into them, and, yes, I’ve rewatched both of these films, a few times.

Mann’s latest, his first film in over 8 years, is called “Ferrari.” It is said to be epic in scope (130 minutes), recounting a single year (1957) in the life of Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) and his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz). Mann’s film comes with very high expectations, not to mention it’s been a passion project of his since he started working on it back in 2001.

“Ferrari” will be screening this fall at Venice and New York. It was supposed to be in Toronto, but NEON decided not to bring it there. So it could have done three of the four major film fests of the fall. This, in itself, is a very good sign for the film.

Today, Rolling Stone film critic K. Austin Collins raved about “Ferrari” on his instagram. He’s part of the New York Film Festival selection committee, so, no surprise he liked the film. In the brief story he posted, he mentions how everyone’s great in “Ferrari,” but that Penelope Cruz “is the GOAT.”

Last month, there was an L.A. test screening for “Ferrari”, and the few reactions that I had gathered were not good at all. Of course, you can’t take anything that comes from test screenings as gospel, and there have been plenty of great films over the years that ended up with bad test scores.

Here’s one reaction I had posted on June 25th:

For a subject with a wide range of compelling stories, this was the longest two-hour film I've seen in a while that had virtually nothing to say. The script is sloppy and focuses more on the love triangle between Enzo (Driver), his mistress (Shailene Woodley) and his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) than the race they’re trying to win to prevent Ferrari from going under. Adam Driver's performance is very similar to that in Gucci — stoic and very little depth to the character, though the same can be said for everyone else, who have nothing to work with. It needs something to give it more energy and make the audience care, and there is a race sequence in the third act that tries to do that, but overall it is very hollow and easily forgettable.

Whether it’s good or bad, it wont matter much to Mann afficianados, who seem to love whatever he does, but, despite this reaction, I have some major hopes for this film. The DP of “Ferrari” is also none other than David Fincher regular Erik Messerschmidt.

The film was recently bought for US distribution by NEON, and a few images have been released, but we still await a trailer. The film is said to be a “$90 million art film”. It’s a risk-taking endeavour.

Mann, who is 80, will probably shoot a sequel to his 1995 classic “Heat” next year. After a short stint on TV with HBO’s “Tokyo Vice,” is finally making movies again.