Ford v Ferrari: James Mangold, in this finely crafted film, throws a bit of a knuckleball with its original title; even though the rivalry eluded in it is the inciting conflict, it is not the most prevalent one. That makes the story more unpredictable and, therefore, emotionally impactful (ignorance about how the story played out in real life, for once, enriches the experience). It helps that it’s such a fine cast: Matt Damon and Christian Bale are both very good and have nice screen chemistry as well. Bale’s character is a bit more colorful and his performance showier as result. Caitriona Balfe and Noah Jupe are good presences, rounding up his familiar nucleus. Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael gives the images a nice golden hue, which plays nicely for such a nostalgic story, and captures well the competition sequences. Those are very well put together by the editing team of Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker, and Dirk Westervelt. Production and costume design are rock-solid, and all the cars look great. But the ace up the film’s sleeve is the sound design, which gives a lot of life to the races.