3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Gran Turismo

2023, Neill Blomkamp (Chappie) -- download

The recently watched Demonic was Blomkamp's first movie since 2015 and was atypical for the director. This not-adaptation-of-a-video-game movie might be considered even more a departure from his aesthetic (action, scifi) except you can see his signature all over the movie. Oh, it is about a video game but more the bio-pic of Jann Mardenborough and his rise to motorsports racing fame from the GT Academy, a partnership between Sony and Nissan to make actual drivers out of players of the video game Gran Turismo. The movie is a very very good depiction of the "against all odds" trope that sports dramas rely upon. It took a guy like me, not at all interested in anything to do with watching loud cars go around in circles, and actually piqued an interest in motor sports, and the drama of it all. 

Of note, I watched this movie bit by bit, in airports and on planes, to and from Las Vegas. While I was there, the city was in the midst of preparing for its own motorsports extravaganza, a coming F1 race. The streets were being rerouted, massive grandstand seating structures are being built and tons of people were being inconvenienced. The locals are not happy, and everyone is hinting that sales are low. Should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Jann is a teen living in Wales, at odds with his dad because all he wants to do is play his video game. He's a serious Gran Turismo fan, with his own race car rig, but also pretty renowned at the local video game parlour. He also can drive pretty well in real life. And then he sees his name on the screen, where he is invited to participate in the GT Academy qualifying race. He defies his dad to participate, easily wins, and is invited to the actual camp where pit boss Jack Salter will put the kids through rigorous training sessions. Nobody is convinced that a bunch of kids good at playing video games would make good drives in the real world.

Of course, Jann comes out on top. 

The rest of the movie is a trope laden escapade through Jann's rise, fall and return, to become a celebrated driver that completely defied all expectations, including his own. And I was right there for it the entire way. Blomkamp may be using his familiar kit bag to enhance the movie, adding in all kinds of CGI overlays and augmented realities for us, the viewers, to become further immersed in the movie, but it was the straight-up Hollywood-isms of an "overcoming odds" sports movie that had me. These are the reasons well-crafted movies end up in the Should Watch bin, and while I don't think this will be Oscar contending material, as few people will relate to the situation, it was incredibly well done. It had me actually wanting to watch a race IRL. I also need to watch a couple of the other Oscar nodded racing movies to see where this one may lie. I hope it gets Blomkamp enough attention to fund some more of his passion project movies.