Director Michael Mann is firing on all cylinders with this gripping biopic of Italian sports-car mogul Enzo Ferrari — and he's a perfect fit for his subject. Not only does he share with Ferrari a reputation for producing sleek, precision-tooled vehicles, he too has spent a long career exhibiting a reverence for nuts-and-bolts professionalism, a relish for adrenalized thrills and a well-disguised streak of romanticism.
Making his first film since 2015's cyber-thriller Blackhat, Mann does not follow Enzo Ferrari from cradle to grave but focuses instead on a crucial three months in his life from the summer of 1957. Enzo, played with cool determination and silver-fox suavity by a grey-haired Adam Driver, is at this time facing a series of entwined crises in his professional and personal lives. His sports-car company, launched a decade earlier and based in his hometown of Modena, currently produces fewer than 100 cars a year and faces imminent bankruptcy, while on the race track, local rival Maserati appears to be overtaking him.
