A decade ago, filmmaker Matteo Rovere achieved unexpected international success with *Veloce come il vento* (Fast as the Wind), a rare example of an Italian commercial film that transcended its borders and even garnered awards. Rare, because action films focused on car racing usually only get theatrical release when they have the backing of major Hollywood productions. However, Rovere has the ability to operate at that level, and with *Motorvalley* he attempts a similar approach, this time in series format.
As in his previous film, *Motorvalley* combines family melodrama with action and suspense, structured around a motor racing championship: in this case, the Italian GT circuit. Parents and children, lovers, traumas, money, racing teams, and the inevitable technical problems inherent in high-level competition serve as narrative pretexts for Rovere and his team to stage a long succession of tense and thrilling automotive sequences, both on and off the track. Here, racing isn't just about points; speed is a way of life.
Stars: Giulia Michelini, Luca Argentero, Caterina Forza
The central trio has something in common: they're all at their lowest point, both personally and professionally, and that's precisely what binds them together. The story begins when Elena (Giulia Michelini) illegally modifies a car belonging to her father's racing team, a trick that allows them to win a Grand Prix. When the deception is discovered, the consequences are severe: the team loses its points, is suspended for a year, and the patriarch, Dionisi, never recovers from the blow and dies. Elena was destined to inherit the team, but after the scandal, she's sidelined. Control passes to her brother, who quickly turns it into a platform to promote an energy drink. Left out in the cold, Elena decides to start from scratch. The problem is simple: she doesn't have a team.
That's how she connects with two misfit talents who, for different reasons, are out of the game. One of them is Blu (Caterina Forza), a talented but incredibly irresponsible young driver with a criminal record. Blu spends her nights racing illegally and stealing luxury cars. No one wants her anywhere near a professional team, but Elena sees both her natural talent and her own desperate need. To train her, she turns to Arturo (Luca Argentero), a former racer turned mechanic whose career ended after a traumatic accident. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, that same accident killed Blu's father, also a former racer. The question, inevitably, is whether the three of them can coexist long enough to build a team capable of competing for the championship.
The series tackles the usual elements of this world: Blu's grueling training regimen, which she struggles to commit to; Elena's chronic lack of funding (her family completely ostracizes her); and the growing rivalry between Blu and the star driver of the opposing team. As the season progresses, the secondary competitors fade into the background, and the narrative focuses on the internal tensions of the trio and their conflict with the much more powerful team run by Elena's brother. Also, as expected, a romance between Arturo and Elena is hinted at, foreshadowed from the moment they share the screen.
All this predictable family drama exists primarily to frame what viewers are really looking for: races (both official and illegal), chases, underground competitions, fistfights, shouting matches, threats, and more shouting. It all unfolds in that familiar register of heightened aggression and falsely ironic humor that governs these interpersonal dynamics. Motorvalley, named after the Emilia-Romagna region, home to Italy's main racing car manufacturers and where the series was filmed, is pure formula for fans of Fast & Furious and Drive to Survive: tense narrative, hyperactive editing (there's practically a cut every half second), and nonstop electronic music that never seems to let up.
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