Hello readers,
With Barbenheimer out of the way, you may think Summer of Cinema is over but there are still a few films on my list and today’s one is all about racing. I grew up watching Formula One with my family so I’ve always enjoyed racing and subsequently racing films but the plot of this one was a little more unusual.
Gran Turismo (2023)
The film centres around Jann Mardenborough, a university dropout living at home and playing the video game, Gran Turismo on PlayStation. He has not found much passion for a career and spends all his free time and money towards the game in his room or at the local game centre. His father is not very supportive and as an ex-footballer is more interested in his youngest son’s blossoming football career.
When a unique opportunity comes from Nissan to find a driver with virtual experience rather than racing in real cars, Jann realises that he may have a chance to fulfil his dreams of being a racing driver after all. The team made up of Danny (Orlando Bloom) and ex-racer Jack (David Harbour) find the ten best sim players and put them through their paces. Among the drivers are Matty, Jann’s cocksure rival (Darren Barnet – Never Have I Ever); Antonio; Leah and Klaus (Maximilian Mundt – How to Sell Drugs Online Fast).
Jann has amazing instincts with the car and knowing all its parts which proves to Jack that maybe a sim driver could become a real racer. After winning the competition, Jann signs to Team Nissan and begins his career on the tracks. For me, the first half of the film did not have as much intrigue or emotion, particularly as they dived into the Academy scenes with a montage sequence but it really picked up when Jann started driving in actual races. I thought that Archie Madekwe who played Jann was well cast and in his driving scenes, you could see the emotion on his face. David Harbour was also good, leaning into his protective father figure character that we have seen in Stranger Things and Black Widow.
I thought the effects combined with the stunts made the races thrilling and exciting and they did not weigh them down with explanations of the types of cars or how many laps they did. I have never really seen this type of racing before but I didn’t feel lost or confused and just focused on the drivers.
It was amazing to me that this was also a true story as it seems impossible that someone can become a racer without training in real cars and not coming from a wealthy background. Jann learned all the right instincts from playing the video game and used things he has learned to his advantage in the real race such as overtaking. Jack was very doubtful at first but even he came to realise that Jann was born to race. I am pleased that there were women in the Academy too as racing has traditionally been a very male dominated sport with no female equivalent at the top level.
Racing fans or even Spice Girls fans will be surprised to see Geri Halliwell Horner make an appearance as Jann’s mother, Lesley. Many will know her as Ginger Spice but she is also married to Christian Horner, Team Principle of Red Bull for Formula One.
Overall, I enjoyed the film even though it was a little documentary like at first. Once you got to the racing part, everything started to fall into place. I give it 4/5.
Happy Watching,
Robyn
