SENNA (Asif Kapadia). 104 minutes. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (August 19). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
Hollywood has attempted to make a biopic about late, great Brazilian Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna (at one point Antonio Banderas was tapped to star), but such efforts never made it to the finish line.
That’s okay, though, because the new documentary Senna has all the full-throttle momentum and sweeping emotion any big-budget feature could hope for.
Asif Kapadia’s film tracks the charismatic, cocky driver’s career from his first Grand Prix to his final, fatal race in San Marino. It never lags, thanks to a refreshing absence of typical talking-head interviews. Instead, Senna is composed entirely from archival television material and pulsating footage taken from cameras inside the cars.
Each race comes with its own set of challenges, whether a title is on the line, questionable politics come into play or some heated personal drama raises the stakes. The catty feud between Senna and French rival Alain Prost is certainly the film’s driving force.
Kapadia avoids Senna’s personal life and chooses not to dig deep into his reckless antics, as if too many details would tarnish the near-saintly figure painted here. We can forgive the director these oversights, since taking such detours would only steer the film away from its chosen path.
As it is, Senna is a focused nuts-and-bolts tribute that’s engineered to move you.
