Lamborghini: The Man Behind The Legend never gets out of first gear

In a scene that reappears quite frequently in the film Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend, two men race cars on a street. One is a Ferrari and the other, a Lamborghini. Seated in both vehicles, are the founders, owners of the surname that gives these machines their respective identities. This particular scene recurs time and again in the film, teasing, possibly a rivalry between two iconic Italian brands, and adding an ordering of mystique to a buffet table that is otherwise lean on proteins. But this scene, as rare and bizarrely enlisted as it is, also exposes the confused core of a film that has no idea where it is driving off to. Lamborghini: The Man Behind The Legend is listless, woefully paced and despite the visceral sight of men bonding over engines, cars, horsepower and racing, acutely dull. The film begins with the racing set but goes back to the days after WW2. A young Ferrucio Lamborghini returns to his father’s farms and helps him build tractors. After a couple of technicalities that spill out of young Ferrucio, like unrestrained sparks out of a flooded basement, we arrive at the garage where the family name is written in bold but was also historicised in principle. Frank Grillo, plays the adult Lamborghini and is just about the only actor here given something to do. Gabriel Byrne , plays Enzo Ferrari, in a handful of scenes that never quite materialise into anything. There is no rivalry, no conflict, not even an even-handed conversation between the two. Just that race down a dimly lit road that come to think of it, might be a construction of Ferrucio’s imagination or the consequence of a filming schedule gone awry. Ferrucio is ambitious in the vaguest sense of the word. “We want to make the best car,” he says, with the kind of unspecific glare that makes, even moments ripe with dramatic tension, feel like loosely cuddled balloon animals. Press or investigate with the senses, and the whole film just might fall apart. Ferrucio, has two wives, strained relationships and an overdriven nature but none of it ever feels genuine or even reasonable for the entirety of the story. Why is this man so pushy? What are his motivations, his anxieties, his flaws? Or where does he even want to take all of this? The film neither asks questions, nor seeks to offer a hint of what might or might not happen. So banal is the writing and direction here, Grillo looks like the only man trying to be in a film about a man who made some fairly iconic luxury cars. To which effect, it is incredible that a film about the backstory of a luxury car manufacturer feels so rugged and despotic. Sure there has to be an element of grounded-ness to the story, but how can a film about men, making fast and sexy cars, look so sheepishly dull, and lifeless. There is a scene in the middle somewhere where Ferrucio discusses with his engineers, the shape of one of their designs. The idea is to lose weight. Someone points to three random spots on a blueprint. “Here, here and here,” he says, without even the slightest pretence of actually acknowledging the complexity of such decisions. It’s lazy. Smart filmmakers can do both, juggle the technicality of a category (done so well in Ford vs Ferrari ) or bypass it outright for some quasi-technical mumbo jumbo (done consistently well by the _Fast and Furious_ franchise). Lamborghini, does neither. Directed by Bobby Moresco, Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend is evidence of what happens when vanity ideas, take the plunge without the knapsack of enquiry or intrigue. Moresco, who is an unknown quantity really, seems disinterested in excavating both the personal and professional side of a man who, to the film’s discredit, is obscured further by this half-hearted mix of bad writing, and clueless direction. There is nothing to write home about here, not even sexy cars, or the stench of elitism that if nothing else, can at least look, glittery. There isn’t even good ‘car porn’ on display here. Not sure if this counts as an affront to the brand itself, but the people at Lamborghini might not want to watch this one on their founder’s day or some such day of corporate reckoning. This will make twitch and twist, for all the wrong reasons. Unlike, of course the cars they manufacture. The film is now streaming on Lionsgate Play

Manik Sharma writes on art and culture, cinema, books, and everything in between. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.