‘Ferrari,’ ‘The Woman in the Wall’ and more to watch now

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who’s been sleeping on “Ferrari.”

As staff writer Mark Olsen explains in this week’s Catch Up, Michael Mann’s latest film, about Italian automaker Enzo Ferrari, was misunderstood enough to be left out of the Oscar race entirely — and now that it’s on VOD, viewers will have another chance to discover its well-oiled machinery.

Also in Screen Gab No. 115, “Griselda’s” Alberto Guerra stops by to discuss his favorite narcodramas and more recommendations to stream this weekend.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

All the 2024 best picture Oscar nominees ranked, from worst to best: The academy has chosen 10 movies for the best picture Oscar race, from big fare such as “Barbie” to radical indies such as “The Zone of Interest.” How do they stack up?

Shocking Oscar snubs for ‘Barbie’s’ Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie just prove the movie’s point: “Barbie” is one of the most successful and well reviewed female empowerment films in history. So, of course, its director and star weren’t nominated for individual Oscars.

Jon Stewart to return as (part-time) host of ‘The Daily Show’ through 2024 election: Stewart, who hosted “The Daily Show” from 1999 to 2015, will return to the desk on Monday nights throughout the 2024 election and will also executive produce the show through 2025.

How Monica Garcia made ‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ unhinged, unmissable TV: Season 4 of Bravo’s ‘The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ was thrilling to watch, thanks to the show’s latest villain, Monica Garcia.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

“The Woman in the Wall” (Paramount+ with Showtime)

In “The Woman in the Wall,” the brilliant Ruth Wilson plays Lorna Brady, a difficult person we meet passed out on an Irish country road, examined by cattle. She’s a sleepwalker of a most extreme kind, and one morning she wakes to find a dead woman in her apartment with no sense of how she got there, who she is, or whether she might have killed her. Meanwhile, a Dublin priest is murdered, which brings police detective Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack) to Lorna’s village following a lead, and puts her in his sights as a suspect. Over it all hangs the shadow of the scandal-ridden church-run “Magdalene laundries” and “mother and baby homes,” and Lorna’s search to find her stolen baby. Naturally, given that this is television, she will join forces with Colman in a search for the truth, as she fights off sleep and the hallucinations of sleeplessness. —Robert Lloyd

Assorted titles from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (Online)

Created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced Sundance to offer online-only screenings of its official selection for the first time, the festival’s virtual component has since become a godsend for those of us too busy with work to see as many movies as we’d like while in Park City — or those for whom even getting there is prohibitive. If accessibility is at the core of the organization’s current mission, as Sundance Institute Chief Executive Joana Vicente told me on the eve of this year’s festival, then the digital platform, which runs through Sunday, is at its core: Where else could you see buzzed-about titles like “A Real Pain,” “Thelma” and “Exhibiting Forgiveness” long before they’ve hit theaters — or even secured distribution — for $25 a pop? Buy those Raisinets at the bodega and contribute the savings to the sort of indie innovation I’d have killed for as a cinephile growing up in the Boston suburbs. Nothing will ever replace movie theaters. But in this case, the internet isn’t a bad second choice. —Matt Brennan

Catch up

Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about

Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” (VOD, multiple platforms) exists on the edge between control and chaos as it examines a tumultuous year in the life of automaker Enzo Ferrari. Adam Driver brings an understated intensity to the title role, while Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley are the two women he is torn between. (Cruz’s performance in particular gives the film its passionate heart.) The film deftly interweaves the messy drama of Enzo’s domestic life with the quest for perfection as he pushes his racing team to win the arduous Mille Miglia road race. This might be Mann’s most personal and emotional film to date, a summation of a life spent striving for unreachable excellence while constantly looking ahead to new challenges. And remember, Mann’s “Heat,” now widely considered his unassailable masterwork, also received no Oscar nominations. As it begins to hit digital platforms and home video, hopefully more people will now take “Ferrari” for a spin as well. —Mark Olsen

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Alberto Guerra may not have known much about his character in Netflix’s “Griselda,” but he’s no stranger to the narcodrama genre. In the new limited series, now streaming, the Cuban-born Mexican actor plays Darío Sepúlveda, the third husband of notorious Colombian drug queenpin Griselda Blanco (Sofía Vergara) — once again embracing the unconventional approach that marked his previous Netflix project, “Narcos: Mexico.” In advance of “Griselda’s” premiere, Guerra stopped by Screen Gab to talk about Sepúlveda’s unique position in a “different world” for gender roles, what he’s watching and more. —Matt Brennan

READ MORE: Sofía Vergara transforms herself in ‘Griselda’ and leaves self-doubt behind

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

“The Bear” (Hulu). I can’t stop talking about it. But, isn’t everyone? Also I loved “Society of the Snow” (Netflix). They are so humane, both the movie and the show, and yet so different.

What is your go-to “comfort watch,” movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

I’m an expert in “Bluey” (Disney+) now as my two youngest children are 4 and 7. My comfort movie has changed over the years; nowadays it is “Cold War” by Pawel Pawilowski (Prime Video) — I always cry with that movie. “No Country for Old Men” (Fubo, Paramount+ with Showtime) was another comfort movie for me for many years.

Narconovelas and narcodramas like “Griselda” have long since become a TV mainstay in Latin America and beyond. What’s your favorite entry in the genre (that you didn’t appear in) and why?

In the genre of narcodramas like “Griselda,” I’d say “Blow” (VOD, multiple platforms) was fun — it must’ve been amazing to film that story. I really loved Seasons 1 and 2 of “Narcos” (Netflix) and I knew I wanted to be part of that show, somehow. I couldn’t believe that these kind of characters were given such depth and humanity. The show was so contemplative at times and had nothing to do with the rhythm that we were used to seeing on screen telling these kinds of stories. I was thrilled to join the show in Season 3 — “Narcos: Mexico” (Netflix).

What knowledge did you have of Griselda Blanco and Darío Sepúlveda going into the project, if any? What was the most surprising detail you learned about your character/their marriage in the course of making it?

I had read a little about Griselda and her time in Miami, and I knew she was called “The Black Widow” for obvious reasons. I wanted to focus a bit more on the social aspects of the time, for example how a man like Darío must’ve felt, what does he do with what his feelings? “Griselda” is set in the 1970s — a very specific time — and he was a sicario. It was a different world then and male characters set in more recent times are comfortable to speak about their feelings.