'Ferrari' is bizarrely compelling, both on and off the track in Michael Mann's latest film

Michael Mann specializes in what you might call dude art.

In films like “Ali,” “Collateral” and, especially, “Heat,” he makes stylized movies about obsessive men who stop at nothing to achieve whatever it is that obsesses them. (Word to the wise: Seek out “Manhunter,” the first on-screen appearance by Hannibal Lecktor, as he’s called then. The name is spelled differently, but his appetites remain the same. Brian Cox gives Anthony Hopkins in “The Silence of the Lambs” a run for his money, and it is without question the best use of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” in any movie, ever.) His films always look great and sometimes are great. And there’s never any question they’re Michael Mann movies. He is one of the most recognizable directors working.

“Ferrari” is similar in those regards.

What is the new 'Ferrari' movie about?

But not entirely. It’s a great-looking movie and Adam Driver is sensational as Enzo Ferrari, the former driver turned car builder completely committed to winning on and off the track, and at the moment the film takes place, in 1957, at several crossroads in his life.

But it’s kind of a weird movie. I don’t know any other way to say it. Not in a bad way — in a good way. This has been an interesting year in terms of biopics. “Oppenheimer” and “Maestro” go at their subjects sideways, to great effect. “Napoleon,” meanwhile, goes at its subject in a more straightforward, capsule-of-history way, and isn’t nearly as successful.

Mann, meanwhile, makes a movie with a cloud hanging over it. Several — the clouds of grief, failure and impending disaster loom over everything. Meticulous about everything, Mann even makes the movie look like a kind of funeral, with dark hues and doom all over the place.

This is someone who does not like losing, yet his company’s success on the track is slipping, and the company itself is about to fall off a financial cliff. He needs investors but doesn’t want them. He is his own man, intolerant of failure, yet somehow surrounded by it.

And that’s just work.

At home, when he is at home, Ferrari and his wife Laura (Penélope Cruz, riveting), are poisoned by grief after the death of their son. Yet they don’t grieve together, as we learn when he visits the mausoleum where his son is entombed. Laura arrives as he leaves; the two barely acknowledge each other.

He is cheating on her, constantly, as she knows. That’s fine, she tells him, as long as he comes home, which he sometimes doesn’t, and she sometimes gets mad about and shoots a pistol in his general direction. Domestic bliss, this is not.

Driver and Mann make no judgments about Ferarri

What Laura doesn’t know is that Ferrari has another family, Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley) and their son. Well, she doesn’t know for a while. When she finds out, understandably, she is not happy. Lina isn’t either; their son is about to be confirmed, and she wants Ferrari to recognize him publicly, which he will not do.

Complicating matters: Laura is the co-owner of the Ferrari empire.

For a time, it’s one of those go-along-to-get-along situations, but anything burdened with this much weight can’t sustain itself forever. Ferrari pushes his drivers on the track, whether in attempts to set speed records or in races. Two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time, he tells them. Something has to give.

What 'Ferrari' lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in powerful performances

Mann isn’t exactly subtle about this metaphor. Ferrari goes all in on a race; winning can mean keeping the company afloat. If you don’t know Ferrari’s story, hold off on Googling it. But know that the racing sequences are brilliant throughout. The crash scenes are some kind of perverse works of art.

Cruz’s performance could have played as parody; instead, she perfectly captures the damage loss causes. She is scary and tragic and powerful.

Driver, meanwhile, never disappoints and certainly doesn’t here. His performance is where a lot of the weirdness comes in. What are we to make of Ferrari? Neither Driver nor Mann makes judgments. They leave that to us.

It’s a messy story, but with Mann’s structural rigor imposed upon it. That is a powerful combination, and one that makes “Ferrari” a bizarrely compelling entry in the Mann canon.

Tequila, books and 'new territories': Olivia Fierro talks life after 'Good Morning Arizona'

'Ferrari' 4 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Michael Mann.

Cast: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley.

Rating: R for some violent content/graphic images, sexual content and language.

How to watch: In theaters Monday, Dec. 25.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.

Subscribe to azcentral.com today. What are you waiting for?

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Ferrari' movie review: Adam Driver steers Michael Mann's strange film