TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2015 // A FILM REVIEW OF "A FASTER HORSE"
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 15th-26th and features hundreds of features, documentaries, short films, and special events all throughout downtown New York City. The ArtsWire Weekly's three featured reviewers Mateo, Derek, & Chrisena are hitting the festival and bringing the reviews right to you! What you should see and what you should skip...
As was stated in this cool new documentary directed by David Gelb, everyone has some kind of Mustang story, whether it's their uncle had one, or their dad, or their brother, or they went to prom in one, or bought it as their first car after saving money delivering newspapers every morning from the age of twelve to sixteen. Or, if you are Mustang Chief Engineer Dave Pericak, proposed to your now wife while kneeling down next to the passenger door of an early 90's 'stang. The Ford Mustang is an American icon and has played a part in many lives, and many movies, since it's debut over fifty years ago.
A Faster Horse tells the story of the 50th Anniversary Mustang, from conception to production and everywhere in between. We get a real insider's look into what all goes on in the process of bringing that idea to physical fruition, a process that's endlessly complicated when you are talking about a machine comprised of about 30,000 parts, especially when the machine has such an emotionally-tied history to it. In America, the joys that come with driving and the freedom it represents, a far-reaching. Of course there are some that see driving as a strictly utilitarian task to get from Point A to Point B, but there's also people with a passion for driving and that freedom. And Ford didn't want to let these folks down!
In A Faster Horse, we learn there have been 6 redesigns of the Mustang since it came onto the scene in the mid-60's. This redesign had the most riding on it. The country was in a terrible recession, and Detroit became the first major city to declare bankruptcy. Luckily there were some passionate people, like Pericak (a central figure of this film) saddled up ready to make this car great. He said a good leader lets his staff know they can go way out on the limb of creativity, even onto the thinnest of branches, and that the leader will be there to catch them if the branch breaks. That confidence sparks a sort of creative freedom that ingenuity and innovation are bred upon. Isn't that beautiful?!
Another cool idea that came from this film that's translatable to whatever your thing in life is came up in the argument that, look, there's 60 million cars made every year, of probably more than 1,000 varieties, so what's the big deal about this one? Why get your panties in a bunch? It's just a car! The answer is: 'cause dammit, this is the car I'm working on! Take pride in what you do, and do it well. Much of the content of this movie fell back on that tenet, and it's safe to say, so did the movie itself.
VERDICT: SEE IT
DIRECTED BY David Gelb FEATURING Dave Pericak, Lee Iacocca, Henry Ford II, and more.
Playing as part of The 2015 Tribeca International Film Festival. For tickets & schedules: http://www.tribecafilm.com
