FILM REVIEW
F1: THE MOVIE
Rated PG-13
155 Minutes
Released June 27th
F1: The Movie will envelop you in a racecar. You will be the driver, and depending on your “need for speed,” you will either fully identify with racing the car or you will be part of the crowd watching the thrilling races. Joseph Kosinski, who directed the film and wrote the screenplay with Ehren Kruger, his cinematographer, Claudio Miranda, and editors Stephen Mirrione and Patrick J. Smith, keeps the precise point-of-view shots of the racers moving at a breakneck pace. The great Hans Zimmer is on top of his game with the soundtrack that emotionally amplifies the emotions of preparation and driving at 200mph in races at the highest competition level. Adding realism to the setting, Kosinski and crew filmed on location at nine 2023 Formula One Grand Prix events worldwide.
Miranda’s camera work is so sharp and immersive that you feel as if you’re sitting in the racecar. Kosinski and editors Stephen Mirrione and Patrick J. Smith were not afraid to let you grip the wheel and drive the track. Other race car films sometimes skimp on showing point-of-view shots, perhaps believing the audience would not connect with them. However, almost all of us drive on local errands, and most of us drive regularly on the freeway, which can seem at times like a crowded racecourse. So even those who never wished they could be in the seat of a racecar will identify with the driver here. And there are many like me who would love to race but never made that chance happen. As is touched on in this movie, chance doesn’t just happen; you make it happen.
Brad Pitt is very good at playing characters who understand who they are, as eccentric as that may be. He doesn’t have to fake his age here (he is 61). His character, “Sonny,” is considered too old for this line of work – a driver who has given his life to the sport because it drives his life. Sonny has developed a fine sense of psychological and technical strategy on the course, which is missing in many of the younger drivers. In this movie, he becomes the teacher, yet learns from the new generation. Damson Idris is well cast as the young driver Joshua Pearce.” He doesn’t add drama but plays it real, displaying a tug of war between his genuine love of the sport and his highly developed ego that compels him to win. Javier Bardem as team head Ruben Cervantes adds frustration, warmth, and firm leadership despite the questionable longevity of the team. Kerry Condon as the brilliant engineer recruited from NASA is a strong lead, not an afterthought, as this is not a role added simply as a love interest – there are really women in the sport who perform this position of technical engineer.
It’s good to have a brief understanding of Formula 1 racing before seeing this film. The mechanics involved in F1 are overwhelming: in the vehicle, the tires, the engine, the lay and composition of the track, the angle of the turns. The sport is as much a test of the technical prowess of the machine as it is of the endurance and skill of the driver. Kosinski has a great background for this kind of film. He helmed Top Gun: Maverick (2022), which involved the same technical expertise in putting the audience in the cockpit of naval fighter jets. He has a BS in mechanical engineering from Stanford and a master’s in architecture from Columbia. He has been an adjunct professor in 3D modeling/ graphics, and he has worked in CGI. His film Tron: Legacy (2010) used extensive special effects. It takes a director with this combination of an analytical and detail-oriented mind enhanced by a highly developed imagination to encompass the Formula 1 world in a movie, and Kosinski is that package.
Pitt has been a star for so long, you would think he was born into the business or was a Disney child star. Not so. Pitt has worked his way up as an actor. Born in Oklahoma to a school counselor and a truck company manager, he grew up in Missouri and started doing musicals in high school. He worked as a limo driver, a refrigerator mover, and danced in a giant chicken costume outside an El Pollo Loco. For all the varied and intense TV and film roles he’s celebrated for, that dancing chicken gig may have been his most challenging.
In contrast, Bardem is from a respected acting family in Spain, and made his first film appearance at the age of six. Aside from a stint as a pro rugby player for the Spanish national team, he’s been acting ever since. Condon is an actor whose influence on film is just beginning. She is a consummate Irish stage actor who drew international attention in her supporting role in Martin McDonagh’s film The Banshees of Inisherin (2022).
F1 fans will recognize some of the greats who have cameos in this movie, as many of the scenes take place at real races. Legendary driver Lewis Hamilton is not only featured in the film, but he’s also one of the producers. “Slow is smooth and smooth is slow” is a mantra repeated during the races in the film. Sonny’s recurring nightmare of a long-ago crash and Josh’s heady young ego find a Zen balance in the mindboggling concentration it takes to conquer the F1.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
