“Ferrari” is the latest example of Hollywood’s love of brands

livemint.com:

“Barbie" , above all) and biopics (“Oppenheimer", “Napoleon", “Maestro"). “Ferrari" is a combination: a “brand biopic". The movie, released in America on Christmas Day and in Britain the day after, follows the sports-car firm’s founder, Enzo Ferrari (played by the aptly named Adam Driver), as he grapples with the dual disarray of his company and his personal life.

The year is 1957. Ferrari’s beloved son, Dino, has died of muscular dystrophy; his long-chilled marriage (and business partnership) with Laura (Penélope Cruz) has been driven to the verge of collapse by her discovery of his long-time lover; and the company faces bankruptcy, plus humiliation at the hands of an ascendant Maserati. Its drivers have to win the Mille Miglia race across Italy in order to sell more cars.

If they fail, the firm will go under. You know Enzo’s type: the flawed genius, the purist in the face of change. He sells cars to win races, not the other way around.

But that is not the way the wind is blowing. “The game is changing, Enzo," the boss of Maserati says, in one of the film’s many flimsy lines. TV would bring mass audiences, and bigger markets.

The age of the small carmaker would soon end. (In 1969, Fiat, now part of a group whose biggest shareholder part-owns the The Economist’s parent company, bought 50% of Ferrari, a stake later raised to 90%.) Add the mid-century Italian decor, and this drama makes an engaging and stylish side-dish to the meat of the movie: handsome men driving handsome cars. The engines’ snarls and roars alone are worth the price of admission.