Motorvalley: a series that races fast, between spectacle and misfires
A six-episode Netflix miniseries directed by Matteo Rovere, starring a young and combative driver with a traumatic past, her coach, and the team manager.
Arturo Benini is a legendary former driver, whose name still evokes respect in Italian motorsport circles, although the end of his career is linked to a tragedy: a tragic track accident, for which he takes responsibility, forced him to retire in disgrace. Now the man is condemned to an existence on the fringes, between odd jobs and dangerous dealings.
Elena Dionisi is the heir to a prestigious car manufacturer, which after her father's death ended up in her brother's hands, also due to a serious offense she herself caused in the past, never forgiven by her late parent and the rest of the family. Now she is seeking redemption, on the hunt for the perfect driver to pilot the gleaming team car. Or rather, the perfect female driver...
The choice falls on Blu Venturi, a girl with crystalline talent who has just finished serving a sentence precisely because of her love for high speed. Raised in the world of peripheral underground races, the girl shows all her talent behind the wheel and her destiny inevitably intertwines with that of the other two protagonists of Motorvalley.
From the wind to the storm
As the races unfold across the tracks of Imola, Mugello, and other legendary circuits in Emilia's Motor Valley, secrets from the past emerge that threaten to derail everything, starting with the painstakingly built balance. What lies behind the accident caused by Arturo? What are his ties to Blu? Why is there such an intense rivalry between brother and sister within the Dionisi family?
The on-track competition alternates with tense and melodramatic dynamics, which try to create complex characters but risk acting in excess, with unintentionally caricatured traits that end up imprinting themselves, episode after episode, on the emotional substratum of the series. We increasingly come into contact with the criminal underworld, with power struggles, with burning passions of loves about to be born and others perhaps destined for oblivion. In this jumble of increasingly complicated situations, will mutual trust be enough to overcome the obstacles that stand between the trio of outcasts and victory?
A series that becomes part of Netflix originals, Motorvalley is the new creation by Matteo Rovere, who returns to the "scene of the crime" almost ten years after Italian Race (2016), a small local cult that made speed its mantra. Cited more or less explicitly in the character management, with the bond between "coach" and young driver, here too a teenage girl with blue-streaked hair, a color she also bears in her name.
Without slowing down a second
However, the screenplay struggles on this occasion to find a common thread between the various souls of the story, with the inclusion of numerous family and sentimental subplots that do not always work with the same effectiveness. No one is without fault in the six episodes, and more or less everyone has something to be forgiven for. But redemption does not come in the hoped-for way; on the contrary, the protagonists continue to make mistakes again and again and seem to never pay the consequences of their actions, even when these go against the law, for more or less necessary personal gain.
The final scene of this first season suggests potential unforeseen developments, but it is still too early to say whether a potential renewal of the series will provide more nuance to a narrative that is far too simplistic in its key developments. Luca Argentero and Giulia Michelini, who play Arturo and Elena respectively, fare decently even when their roles risk falling into clichés; the same cannot be said for Giovanna Mezzogiorno, victim of perhaps the worst-characterized figure in the entire operation. But the true driving force of Motorvalley is Caterina Forza as Blu Venturi: already seen in Prisma, the Roman actress gives grit and charisma to this rebellious girl, ready for anything to prove she is the best on the track.
In this regard, but given what Rovere had already demonstrated in the past it is no surprise, the sequences on four wheels, whether on the track or on city streets, possess a considerable dose of adrenaline, with slow-motion and various spin-outs guaranteeing the right amount of themed spectacle. Up to that last kilometer, to that last checkered flag that marks the boundary between failure and glory, the two extremes that Motorvalley seems unwillingly to look at, suspended in a spin-out with a far from predictable outcome.