Love the Beast

Tribeca Film Festival Review

TedFlicks Rating:

$10.00 ticket on a scale of $0 to $12.00*

*Five Stars for certified car nuts.

A BIOGRAPHY IS THE LIFE STORY OF A PERSON; AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY IS THE LIFE STORY OF A CAR

“Love the Beast,” Australian thesp Eric Bana’s directorial debut is an endearing, quirky documentary about his lifelong love affair with his first car, a 1974 Ford XB Falcon Coupe (The Beast), which he continues to own.  It’s an Aussie muscle car which looks something like the 1970 Ford Torino.  Bana is a certified car nut, a distinction he shares with other thespians including Jay Leno (who makes several appearances) and the late Paul Newman and Steve McQueen.  Like Newman and McQueen he also loves to race.  Unlike either, he is not the best driver on the track.  Luckily for auds, Bana directs with modesty rather than bravado.

Bana has rebuilt the Beast for racing and taken it to the Targa Tasmania, an open road race similar to Italy’s much missed Targa Florio or the Mille Miglia.  The Targa is run on the public roads.  Team consists of driver and navigator, no GPS allowed.  No markings on the roads.  No map.  No safety barriers.  Just a list of turns, checkpoints, and some spectators.  And the roads are closed to normal traffic.  Whew!  A five-day event, Targa Tasmania may be the last of its kind.

Pic benefits from superior photography, including aerial shots, a fender mounted camera aimed at the right front wheel of the Beast, and a great many hand held shots all sharply edited.  It’s not a racing film like “Le Mans.”  It is a psychological exploration of the garage nut.  Garage footage is among pic’s most poignant moments –especially when Bana is lectured by Jay Leno in the latter’s garage before a cream colored “step-down” Hudson.  The garage is where Bana, his lifelong friends (including navigator and cameraman Tony Rumunno) bond.  It’s where Bana’s parents fret about his safety.  It’s where other drivers ruminate about the idiocy of their passion or complain about the fuel pump that quit in a critical turn.  It’s where Bana’s dad keeps his bright red 1967 Ford Thunderbird under a cover, undriven for years, like a metaphor for part of his life on hold.

The crux of “Love the Beast” is this:  Bana crashes the Beast in Targa Tasmania.  Rams it against a tree where another team went off the road.  He and Tony walk away unscathed – Tony well enough to shoot the aftermath with the hand-held camera.  “Love the Beast” is a touching, amusing chronicle of Bana’s emotional torment over whether to rebuild the almost totally destroyed Beast and his guilt over hurting a car which is for him almost a living being.  This is something that only certified car nuts will grasp.  Bana’s journey takes him not only to Leno’s garage, but also to London to consult “Top Gear” guru Jeremy Clarkson and to Dr. Phil McGraw’s couch.  The TV shrink offers the all-to-true advice that rebuilding the Beast will be far cheaper than therapy for the stricken Bana.

For general auds, “Love the Beast” is a fascinating, honest inside look at a celebrity without the contrived smarminess of reality TV.  In addition to producer and director credits, Bana gets music credit as percussionist.  Soundtrack of mostly rock tunes is in keeping with pic’s character.  Its 92 minutes go by quickly.  Although not rated, “Love the Beast,” should entertain the entire family.

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