Lifetime packed into 32 years
MATTHEW HANSEN REVIEWS THE BRUCE MCLAREN BIOPIC
It's easy to draw comparisons between the lives of Ayrton Senna and our own Bruce McLaren. Both defied their humble childhood, dealt with internal conflict, and left us in a blunt, numbingly abrupt fashion.
In a way, that makes it natural to compare McLaren's new biopic ( simply titled to the magic of While on paper they come with similar ingredients, real life results are quite different. As you would expect, McLaren touches on a number of McLaren’s most significant moments — doing so with the aid of different characters from his journey, ranging from the energetic and vivid Mario Andretti, to Howden Ganley's characterful recollections, to Bruce's sister Patty.
This is where the film shines. Listening to those close to McLaren recount each of their steps as he transferred from New Zealand to Europe is something I could do all day. They have such enthusiasm for his legacy.
Directed by Roger Donaldson, it's no surprise that he's able to take viewers and immerse them in the 60s and 70s. Segments of McLaren look and feel period; perhaps a testament to Donaldson's work on the similarly dated which he also directed.
The soundtrack tying it all together and the recreations, filmed at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park and Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, are good examples of this.
But, while the flow and feel of Denny Hulme, Phil Kerr and Bruce McLaren chat in pit lane. McLaren's tale is treated with care, things come to a close quickly.
You could tell that the motorsport industry people at our early screening were lapping up every precious line. But, it was hard to shake the feeling that the film didn't quite succeed in illustrating the sheer scale of what McLaren accomplished, for the more casual viewers.
The audience is hurled from race event from race event. McLaren goes from being a bed- bound child to an adult in the blink of an eye. It felt like Donaldson was trying to cram as much as possible into a 94- minute budget, in a film that would benefit from stopping every once in a while to linger on the big stuff. Instead of being in such a hurry.
But, maybe that's the point of it — a film that shadows McLaren's life is naturally going to fly through life events and leap from one continent to the next, from the New Zealand Grand Prix to Formula 2 to Formula 1 to Le Mans to Can Am.
After all, that's how McLaren lived for his 32 years.