F1: A Great Racing Film and an Adrenaline Rush

As I left the theater I came away feeling, "Wow! That was fun." The iconic riff from Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" set the tone and the thrills never let up. Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun Maverick). Perfect casting for every role in the lineup, stellar cinematography and a masterfully crafted screenplay conspire to knock your socks off. 

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

The four main characters are skillfully developed. Each has an distinct identity and a personal quest. Their destinies will rise or fall based on their success or failure in achieving their personal ambitions... as a team. 

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was himself once a promising F1 future star in the 90s, but a traumatic crash cut his career short. He hasn't quit racing, but it's on a lesser scale.  When Ruben Cervantes (Bardem) seeks him out to return to Formula One racing, Hayes now has an opportunity to become one of the sport's elite drivers. 

Cervantes has two aims. His primary aim, after nine years of failure, is to win a championship. If he fails at this, his board of directors will pull the plug on their racing program. He second aim is to have his promising young future star Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) to awaken to his full potential as a driver by learning from Hayes's experience and example.

EdNote: I love the name Cervantes. Has Bardem's character been "tilting at windmills" these past nine years? Is he pursuing an impossible dream?

The fourth critical component in the fictional APXGP Formula 1 team's success is technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), the team's chief tactician and strategist. Her driving motivation is to prove herself as a trailblazing woman in a male-dominated sport, optimizing the team’s car and strategy to achieve a Grand Prix victory. She also plays the role of mediating conflicts between Sonny Hayes and Joshua Pearce, no small task in itself.

Put all these ingredients together is and you have an electrifying story.

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This past few years we've. been treated to two other superb racing-infused films: Ford v. Ferarri and Ferarri. Each is carried along by its own unique storyline, and F1 is no different. In each story there is something at stake. Ferarri features Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, at a critical juncture in the future of their company and their relationship. Ford v Ferarri features Christian Bale as driver Ken Miles and Matt Damon as the legendary Carroll Shelby. Can Ford break into the Ferrari-dominated Formula One orbit? Corporate interference, technical challenges and personal battles must all be overcome.

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Gold & Black: There was a lot to like for me personally in this film. For starters, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem has been two of my favorite actors. With Jerry Bruckheimer at the helm, it seemed almost a certainty that this film was not going to crash and burn. The team's Gold and Black cars had a special meaning for me. When I first joined Cub Scouts, circa 1960, my dad painted my first Pinewood Derby car gold and black. The next three years I painted my cars yellow and black. That last year, my yellow and black car took third place in the Pinewood Derby, a car I built myself. But it's that first car, the gold and black one my father made for me, that I wish I still had today.

Another memory from my childhood was a game called Mille Bornes, which is French for "a thoughsand milestones." It was a card came based on Formula One racing. We also had a Formula One board game. While dirt track racing held a big appeal for us, it was the Indy 500 that brought us nearer to the European racing scene.

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F1 has many classic subplots, most significantly the rookie versus the veteran storyline. I couldn't help think of Jack London's story "A Piece of Steak" which highlights this theme. London's story highlights the career of Tom King, an aging Australian boxer facing poverty and hunger as he prepares for a crucial match against a younger, fitter opponent named Sandel. King, unable to afford proper food, reflects on his past glory and the brutal toll of his career, knowing that a piece of steak could give him the strength he needs to win.

In F1, we similarly encounter the vitality and glory of youth being contrasted with the wisdom and discipline that comes at a price through experience.

Bottom Line: Five Stars out of Five. 

Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

"It is intensely painful to see that one's future has been mostly transmuted into one's past by the mysterious process of time. Yet, time itself is so serene and tranquil it's hard not to think of it as ultimately benign, even as it slowly begins to draw the shroud around us, as it inevitably does. This song captures that perfectly." ~oamericanos69

Many of us are familiar with the Judy Collins rendering of this song. It has always moved me. Even so, when I heard Nina Simone's version in The Dancer Upstairs, it truly floored me. Perhaps it was the song's position in the film. The juxtaposition of innocence and experience in that final scene with Javier Bardem watching his daughter perform was scintillating in its simplicity, this song serving as a backdrop.

The statement at the top of the page was lifted from the Comments section on YouTube. If the video here doesn't play, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXeh742_jak 

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

The opening track on side two of Judy Collins' Colors of the Day* is "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" Her delivery is heartfelt, poignant and moving. I've listened to it countless times over the years and it always soothes. The lyrics begin like this.

Across the morning sky, all the birds are leaving
How can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I do not count time
Who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Time is experienced in many ways. There are the seasons, and there are the days -- sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset. Sometimes, when you are longing for something, time drags. Other times it seems to fly. 

The birds, in tune with the seasons, depart for warmer climates each autumn. But the narrator accepts the winter, lost in a different kind of time... that is timeless.

Sad deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time
Who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

The second verse addresses departure in a different manner. But our narrator is unconcerned, floating in that timeless sphere beyond it all. The reason is explained in verse three. She is not alone while her lover is near. And though disruptions occur, and he flies away, she knows that he will return, like the dawn, like the birds, like the ebb and flow of the sea. She's in that state of being where she's untouched, nourished by the painful sweetness of things we don't fully understand but accept. 

And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time
Who knows how my love grows?
Who knows where the time goes?

The song speaks of mystery, of something ethereal, indefinable. Resignation? Acceptance? Perhaps it's simply that sense of being immersed in timelessness. 

Where is this timeless place? It's an interior spatial plane, a place we miss because of the blistering pace of most of our lives. We rush about from here to there, escaping from our selves. 

In Psalm 23 the psalmist writes, "He leads me beside still waters." Those "still waters" are within. If we would just be still we could be comforted and nourished by them. 

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Myintroduction to Javier Bardem came via the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men. His portrayal of Anton Chiguhr, the villain he brought to life on the silver screen, was more than memorable. It also won him a well-deserved Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. And it stirred a desire in me to see more of his films. (I have since seen many.)

One of these was The Dancer Upstairs, directed by John Malkovich. It's a powerful film on so many levels. The casting is perfect, especially the lead characters played by Bardem and Laura Morante. (You can read my review here.) 

In the final scene, post-climax, there's a subtle resolution that takes place. The scene is accompanied by a soundtrack featuring another version of "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" except it's not by Judy Collins or Sandy Denny, the song's author. Rather, it is Nina Simone, and it's an absolutely wonderful rendition, beginning with a lengthy spoken introduction, both in this recording and also in the film. The purpose of this blog post was, in part, to share this song:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXeh742_jak

* Colors of the Day is actually a Best of Judy Collins album, so the song originally appeared earlier, on the flip side of her version of "Both Sides Now."

Reading the Character of Others by Their Faces: A Scene from The Dancer Upstairs

A police detective in a South American country is dedicated to hunting down a revolutionary guerilla leader.  Tagline, The Dancer Upstairs

As I've written elsewhere, The Dancer Upstairs is an exceptional movie (and one of my favorites), despite the somewhat lukewarm response from critical viewers at Imdb.com. There are so many satisfying subtleties to savor that a  less patient viewer might miss. By "less patient" I mean that kind of viewer looking for thrill-ride action and spectacle. This film is more like a layered poem that keeps treating you to new insights over time as you reflect on its passages.

In the film Javier Bardem plays the central character Augustin Rejas. a disillusioned former lawyer who is now a police detective because he wanted to do something more honest. As it turns out, this decision will only bring him further disillusionments. 

The scene I wanted to share here takes place in a cafe. At this point in the film, after years of activity in the surrounding rural areas the revolutionary guerrilla leader Ezequiel has become active in the Capital. Augustin is seated with Yolanda (Laura Morante), his daughter's dance instructor with whom he has slowly become enamored. 

Large photographs of faces hang on the walls of the cafe. Each table has a brochure listing their identities, quiz-style. That is, it's like a game for couples or groups to play. One person picks a face and the other must guess what kind of person it is. Hero, vagabond, prince, thief, etc.

Yolanda: They're from newspapers. So picture number two, who do you think it is?

Augustin: Well, he's obviously a thief.

Yolanda: Mm-mm. No. Murder victim. Now... Picture number nine.

Augustin: Policewoman?

Yolanda: Policewoman it is. Now it's your turn.

Augustin: Picture number seven?

Yolanda: I would say, a judge.

Augustin: No. Murderer. (a beat) Number ten?

Yolanda: A thief.

Augustin: Right. Well, that means half the people  we meet, we get wrong.

SPOILER ALERT

It's a brief scene, seemingly unrelated to the story, yet precisely designed to foreshadow what's to come. As Chekhov famously noted, you don't put a gun in the story if you're not going to use it. The scene, therefore, is clearly intentional.

The big surprise comes at the climax when everything is revealed. Neither Augustin nor Yolanda had grasped who the other was or the motivations that impelled them. In other words, in the game of faces, each incorrectly assumed the character of the other.

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How are you at reading character? How often would you say that "what you see is what you get"? Frequently our interactions with others are relatively innocuous. I've been fooled before. Things aren't always as they seem. 

Perhaps we get fooled because we trust too much. We find it hard to believe that this person or that would lie so audaciously. Often we only hear what we want to hear. As the saying goes, we "like to put the best face on things." 

There's a better way to measure character. It's not what people say but what they do and how they act that reveals who they are. 

This applies equally to ourselves. It's important every once in a while to take stock. As we lean over the mirror of our acts, our souls recognize what we are.

Related Links

Javier Bardem Delivers the Goods in The Dancer Upstairs

The Mirror of Our Acts