Bulls & Bears: Ford vs. Ferrari earns honour as the best sports movie of 2019
Credit to Author: Paul Chapman| Date: Sat, 08 Feb 2020 01:07:25 +0000
Anyone who has driven an automobile with a manual stick shift can relate to the rush — the pure pop of adrenalin — that comes from gearing up or down, especially in a fast-moving vehicle. It’s precisely that feeling, the spine-tingling sensation of cornering before the big straightaway, that defines Ford vs. Ferrari, the best sport movie of 2019.
The relationship between man and machine that finds its visual metaphor in driver and stick shift is referenced time and time again during the two-hour, 32-minute film based on the true story of American race car designer Carroll Shelby and his hand-picked driver, the temperamental Brit Ken Miles.
Although we’re introduced to the Riverside International Raceway in California and the Daytona Beach International Speedway in Florida, the story is all about the corporate infighting, hierarchical politics, personal demons and irrepressible egos that made the 1966 running of the iconic 24-hour race at Le Mans, France, one of the most notable in auto racing history.
Under the direction of James Mangold, the cinematography of Phedon Papamichael and the razor-sharp film editing of Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker and Dirk Westervelt, Ford vs. Ferrari takes us inside the Ford GT40 Mk I that finished in a sweep of the top three positions at Le Mans in 1966.
Extreme close ups of the driver Miles — shifting back and forth from his sweaty face and riveted eyes to his sure hand on the clutch — are used repeatedly to bring us as close as possible to the RPMs and laws of physics that make auto racing a never-ending pursuit of speed.
Led by Donald Sylvester, Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven Morrow, a sound department of 37 engineers, mixers, boom operators, foley artists and editors do the rest, giving Ford vs. Ferrari the palpable crispness and raw authenticity that has resulted in four nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards on tap Sunday night (CTV) at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
Ford vs. Ferrari is up for an Oscar for best picture, best film editing, best sound editing and best sound mixing, making it the most critically-acclaimed and nominated sport movie since The Fighter earned seven Academy Award nominations in 2010. The epic yet extremely focused First World War movie 1917 will almost certainly follow up its Golden Globe for best drama with the Oscar for best picture, but there’s no question that the audiovisual intensity of Ford vs. Ferrari has a very good chance at being rewarded in one or more of the editing or sound categories.
The movie starring Matt Damon as Shelby and Christian Bale as Miles has scored multiple nominations (65) and award wins (21) over the past 60 days, not including eight of 22 categories in The Sport Market Movie Awards for 2019. By doing so, Ford vs. Ferrari equals the most recent accomplished Formula One racing film Rush — the story of the deep-seated rivalry between Austria’s Nikki Lauda and England’s James Hunt — which won eight times in The Sport Market Movie Awards in 2013.
Both Damon and Bale are solid in their respective roles, but it is the former Batman who is literally in the driver’s seat for much of Ford vs. Ferrari (billed and marketed as Le Mans ’66 in most parts of Europe). Bale was last recognized nine years ago in the sport movie genre for his role as Dicky Eklund, the half-brother of Boston boxer Micky Ward, in The Fighter. He won the Oscar for best supporting actor while Melissa Leo took home best supporting actress as Ward’s mother.
He didn’t receive an Academy Award nomination as best actor for his role as Miles, but Bale’s depiction as the talented mechanic and mercurial driver in Ford vs. Ferrari did earn him best actor nominations at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Ford vs. Ferrari is this year’s box office champion among sport movies — with big screen receipts of US$222 million on the eve of its digital release this Tuesday — and wins six other categories of The Sport Market Movie Awards, including best picture, best drama, best cinematography, best editing, best sound and best supporting actress (Caitriona Balfe).
It was clearly the year’s best sport movie — and one of the best all-time technical performances in the sport genre in sound and editing — in an interesting crop of 42 releases in 2019 (including a dozen foreign language dramatic productions and 15 sport documentaries).
The Netflix original High Flying Bird not only showed us what it would look like if Jerry Maguire (1996) married Moneyball (2011), it demonstrated how streaming companies have completely reshaped the landscapes of movie production, distribution and promotion in recent years. The excellent sport business movie that puts an agent (Ray Burke played by Andre Holland) in the middle of the NBA and its players in a lockout is one of several produced this past year by the studio arm at Netflix. It wins three categories in The Sport Market Movie Awards, including best direction by Stephen Soderbergh, best screenplay by Tarell Alvin McCraney and best supporting actor for Melvin Gregg (who plays Burke’s client Erick Scott).
Adam Sandler accepts Best Actor for Uncut Gems onstage during AARP The Magazine’s 19th Annual Movies For Grownups Awards at Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on January 11, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California.
Meanwhile, another Netflix production ignored by the Academy this weekend, scores as the best sport-themed movie of the year. It is Uncut Gems, the crime thriller starring Adam Sandler in a compelling dramatic turn as Howard Ratner, a charismatic jeweller who gets himself into trouble in a high-stakes sports betting jam. Kevin Garnett, one of the best power forwards in NBA history, plays himself as Ratner’s client, making his 2008 championship ring a co-star in the flick.
Uncut Gems also features notable performances by newcomer Julia Fox and Idina Menzel as Ratner’s wife Dinah. Menzel is best-known as the speaking and singing voice of Elsa in the animated Disney franchise Frozen.
Among the other sport movie releases from 2019 that are worth a watch is the year’s best sport documentary — Diego Maradona — and Fighting With My Family, a biopic dramedy starring Florence Pugh as English WWE wrestler Saraya-Jade Bevis, better known as Paige. Pugh is this year’s best actress in a sport movie and Fighting with My Family, which also features Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock, wins a total of four categories in The Sport Market Movie Award, adding best biopic and best comedy.
Best music, best soundtrack and best song in a sport movie — Pray for a Miracle by Romell — all come from Brian Banks, the true story of the Long Beach Poly all-American and USC star whose NFL career was put on hold after he was imprisoned for a sexual assault he did not commit. Banks, played by Aldis Hodge, ultimately made his NFL debut for the Atlanta Falcons 10 years later in 2013.
The Sport Market on TSN Radio rates and debates the bulls and bears of sport business. Join Tom Mayenknecht Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans.
Follow Tom Mayenknecht at: Twitter.com/TheSportMarket
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com