Brief 40: Ford v Ferrari

 It's been bracing to watch a film and not like it one little bit.

It's not, objectively, a bad film.

It's directed by James Mangold, who generally directs pretty good films, it stars Christian Bale and Matt Damon, who are both good screen actors I tend to like a lot.

I hated the title - 'Ford vs Ferrari', and the alternative title 'Le Mans 66' and, let me tell you, I hate motor racing, but, what with it being Oscar-nominated and all, I thought the credentials and the notion of it being good old-fashioned solid entertainment would carry it through.

But what I did is underestimate how much I hated motor racing, how much I rejected the idea of motor racing as a film subject, an arena for nuance and for heroism, for humour, for idiosyncracies and for moving loves and friendship.

So, for every deftly plotted turn, ever well-written line, every well shot thrill, I went "yeah, so what", "who cares" "knobs" over and over again, like a small, small boy watching a romance.

And so I had a bit more sympathy for people who flat-out hate films which seem to be to have little wrong with them. There is not that much wrong with 'Ford V Ferrari' - I mean, all the accents are slightly wrong, all the banter is slightly off, all the historical detail doesn't quite ring quite true, but I'd definitely be able to put up with that if it was about cricket, basketball, or indeed boxing.

Though one of the reasons I hate motor racing is why many people hate boxing - it ain't worth it for all the deaths. But, at least, surely, people watching boxing films or reading boxing stories can believe that it has real value and meaning in people's lives, that the jeopardy is real? But here? These car pricks want to be faster than these car pricks, and this car prick wants this slightly more nuanced car prick to help him do that, but, really, it's all just nothing.

Anyway, it's quite a good film. You should see it.